During the monsoon season in Bangladesh it is almost impossible to get around. Every year from late June to October one third of the country goes underwater! Consequently, flooding is “the main reason for school drop outs in rural Bangladesh” says Mosammat Reba Khatun.
For the last ten years Mosammat has been the teacher on a floating school on the Gumani river in northwest Bangladesh. She teaches 90 students, mostly girls, Bengali, Maths and English. The school collects children from their homes, teaches them on board and returns them at the end of the session.
On teaching on the floating school Mossammat says:
The teaching can be very challenging as we are working with children from landless, extremely poor families vulnerable to natural disasters. Their parents mostly work as day laborers and have irregular family income. The children under age 5 are malnourished and infant mortality rate is high. Girls are not allowed to move around freely. We meet with the parents monthly to encourage them to send their children to school regularly
One of the benefits besides literacy, is that “the rate of early marriage is reduced.”
Talk about giving kids a chance.
The floating school is also solar powered which provides light and allows the computers onboard to access the internet.
Beautiful stuff.
More at the World Education Blog: Bangladesh: Innovative solutions to improve education for the disadvantaged
Previously on Book Patrol:
Minnesota: Land of 10,000 lakes and 1 floating library