JAAGO Foundation English Medium School
1st Free-of-Cost English Medium School for Underprivileged Children in Bangladesh
Free English Medium School for the underprivileged children living in slums was the first project undertaken by JAAGO Foundation. The ultimate goal of this project is to provide free of cost education of international standards to the underprivileged children of Bangladesh.
JAAGO Foundation has chosen English as its medium of education because it realizes the importance of the international medium of communication.
Students of JAAGO English Medium School are aimed to be as well equipped as their peers from other renowned English Medium schools of the country. JAAGO Foundation believes that it can bring about a sustainable improvement in the lives of the underprivileged children by making them adept in communicating in English.
On November 2007, the Free-Schooling program started with 17 children in a small room with only a whiteboard and a piece of carpet. Currently, it is providing 200 slum children with education of international standards. The students’ ages vary from 4 to 10 years. All the children hail from the slums of Rayer Bazar, the area where the school is currently located. Almost all of the children enrolled in the school are from families whose average daily income is below the international indicator of poverty, which is less than US $1.
Due to their family’s dire economic condition, these children would never have been exposed to any forms of education had JAAGO not given them this opportunity.
The Free Schooling project entails a myriad of programs for the children enrolled. Even though special emphasis is given to English as a medium of language in the school, the importance of Bangla is not overlooked at all. While the younger age groups are given classes on basic subjects such as Mathematics, English, Bengali, the older ones are taught Science, Environment, History, and Culture and so on. Besides academics, the children are also involved in extracurricular activities such as art & craft,
drama, dance, music, sports, debate, etc which help them to be confident, creative and intelligent. Regular events during special national, international events and JAAGO events allow the children to interact with students of other schools and their sponsors. The program also provides all sorts of education materials starting from books, stationeries, uniforms, school bags and raincoats. The children are also made aware of their responsibilities towards their families, neighbors and nation. They have access to counseling services enabling them to share their family woes and other issues they may face.
This project is financed by individual sponsors. Each child has an individual sponsor contributing 1000 tk. per month to bear all the educational expenses that he/she incurs.