Free-of-cost School for Underprivileged Children

Fail Forward Contest 2016 | Learning through Failure

Together We Stand Strong

JAAGO Foundation started its journey on 14th April, 2007 when Korvi Rakshand and his friends rented a single room in Dhaka Rayer Bazar slum area. With a single dream of changing the lives of the children in the area, Korvi and his friends began teaching the 17 children who showed up, with only a blackboard, chalks and a mat. 

JAAGO Foundation is a civil society organization run by a group of dedicated youth working towards alleviating poverty and illiteracy from the face of Bangladesh with The mission & vision to break the cycle of poverty through quality education and rebuilding our nation; bringing forth positive changes in the World. JAAGO founded the first ever free-of-cost International Standard School exclusively for the underprivileged children of Bangladesh. In 9 years from 17 children now we have 2200 children in 13 JAAGO Schools. We at JAAGO support the creativeness of our children and value their input in society by providing education in the English version under NCTB (National Curriculum Textbook Board). JAAGO aims to bring about substantial improvement in the lives of disadvantaged people with special emphasis on their literacy and nourishment. 

In these 9 years of our travelogue, JAAGO has faced many threats to its existence, with educating the community about our vision at the heart of these challenges. Initially the local community thought that we were a Christian missionary, bent on converting them (this case was intense as Bangladesh is a Muslim Country and zones where we operate are slum areas lacking open mindset amongst the local community); and later they doubted our seriousness in our mission. Since then, we have faced further problems within this community, such as child marriage, lack of funds and so on. To our credit, despite everything, we learned from our failures, we designed effective logical strategies to merge in and we’ve forged ahead.

We believe that the main problems we face in achieving our goals are the conditions of the poor community. This stems from the following issues –

• More often than not young children are seen as earners for the family and as a result these children are sent to work, causing them to relinquish their education.

• Most of the children suffer from malnutrition and improper diets. As a result, their health and physical condition cause them to miss school, and at times drop out completely. We try to alleviate this problem by providing them with proper diets and health check-ups.

Though these problems are decreasing day by day, we still face people who cannot appreciate our cause and often act as obstacles in our path.

But today, we want to share a sensitive story here; phase that propelled every single member of JAAGO to land in together and find a solution because failure kept dodging us in the process. We went restless as this was a complete ambush by this situation that we never thought would be so tough to overcome. Despite repeated attempts by the government and various NGOs, the poorer communities of Bangladesh are still prone to the habit of early marriages. As a result many young girls are forced to give up their education to get married. These girls later give birth to young children who cannot appreciate the importance of education, and thus fall into the cycle of poverty and illiteracy.

 A bright student from our JAAGO School, Alishah was preparing to appear for the Junior School Certificate examination (certifying examination of Class 8) last year. She lived with her mother in a slum and her mother used to work as office stuff at a local private educational institution. Before she could sit for the examination, her mother married her off due to the lack of security and social pressure. Though Alishah was keen to continue her education, the education department of JAAGO Foundation had to consider the situation and its effect on the other students of class if she was allowed to continue, as we highly discourage early marriage.  After a lot of reconsidering and upon the request of her mother and Alisha’s determination, she was allowed to appear the examination from our school.

However, considering the fact that this might encourage other parents to marry off their daughters the education department decided to declare Alisha as a dropout student.  The education department came up with a solution and made her admission in class 9 at a Public school, so that she can continue her education. 

Just when we thought the problem was solved, we were informed that Alishah has stopped attending classes and she was absent in the quarterly examination. When we reached her for an explanation, we got to know that she was struggling coping up with the teaching pattern of the public school. Being in a class of more than 100 students she could not get the extra attention of teachers that she needed, which she used to get in our school. She got demotivated and stopped attending classes so we tried to convince her to commence with classes regularly. When we failed to convince her, we wanted to take her back to our school as an exception so that she could continue her education. But her husband did not allow her to continue and she was being physically abused by her husband for her deep heeds. So she discontinued her studies and now she is a housewife living with her in-laws and husband.

This was really devastating, as Alishah was one of our enchanting students coming from an impoverished background. She was a glowing fallen star who even supported her teachers as a Teacher`s Assistant. Her caliber integrity was supposed to make her a future corporate leader or a government official; an educated and responsible citizen. An educated mother! We failed to save a National Asset, a propeller of Change in the world. 

Our senior batch children who were her friends went heartbroken to lose their friend moreover the girls were frightened that the same story might happen in their lives as well. But our teachers and Team JAAGO didn’t pause or give up. We battled forward; we kept trying to find a solution. We went door to door for expert advises, seeking support from the concerned society, the parents and everyone. In many cases we failed again getting negative feedbacks even threats on gun points. Yet our leader, Mr. Korvi Rakshand held on to the grip and said,” Believe in your passion, fight for your passion”.

We activated awareness campaigns with theatrical contents and discussions. Our youth program, Volunteer for Bangladesh came forward to back up. We called in experts from various fields to come forth and give counseling sessions with our children, their parents and even the local mass in individual communities. People`s views on Child Marriage caught attention, getting concerned about how important Education is for a girl child and how a marriage might just put a wall on her dreams. Guardians began to compromise with their decisions and agreed that Education is only tool that can elevate their children from the vicious wrath of poverty; having their daughter educated can save her family, siblings even the community itself. Local leaders came forward to confirm the security of young girls going to schools. Young men acted responsible and respectful. Through catering for the educational needs of children from socially and economically disadvantaged backgrounds, coupled with the integration of numerous ‘Support Functions’, JAAGO Foundation aims to ensure the sustainable development of the financially insolvent communities of Bangladesh. Education is the most effective sustainable tool of social development. This is why JAAGO Foundation focuses on providing quality education to at least one child from one underprivileged family to grow his/her skill, which will help him/her to lift up the family. This child can make an impact at his/her community as well. In the process, we are detonating a sustainable run towards building a strong education background for the unprivileged children and a community securing an enlightened future for each of them stabilizing their family’s financial state as well. Students and their families will gain confidence to continue with the schooling and create space for many more fallen stars to shine. The development of one child can make a huge difference to his/her family in the future. And the development of the family will lead to the development of the nation through the self-sustainable community in the long run. 

Now, our students are happy! They know, events took place that has brought in positives vibes and rays of hope. Each of our fallen stars is at present boosted with confidence. Yet the struggle doesn't end here and there is a long way to go.

This was only possible, as we failed, as we were defeated but we got back into the ring stronger. We embraced failures as our friends.  

A very wise man named Winston Church once engraved a note for the world saying, “ Success is not Final, Failure is not Fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”

With that note I would like to conclude by thanking all our supporters for having the faith upon us. We are grateful to each one of you out there with such courage to put your effort and confidence in decorating dreams of beautiful children like Alishah and thousands more like her. Together we stand strong. Let failures guide us to source of triumph. Let’s be the change! 

Science Festival 2016, JAAGO Rayer Bazar School

The Science Festival is a fantastic opportunity for the students as the whole process is a joyful learning experience. At the same time, for the school it’s a hint to see how smart its students are becoming!

Sincerely, the Science Festival is something more than just ‘Science’. It’s a hands-on learning for the children, where they have to learn and exercise many life-skills that include: research, teamwork, leadership, democracy, public-speaking, presentation skills. Also they come to know about ethical issues such as: plagiarism and falsification of data used.

There were in total 10 distinctive projects where the little kids from Class 2 decorated and presented each one with much confidence and high spirit!

The participating 10 projects names were:

1. Seeds
2. Leaves
3. Living and Non-Living Things
4. Types of Plants
5. Parts of Plants
6. Different Types of Animals
7. How Plants Born and Grow
8. Man-made and Natural Things
9. Existence of Air, and
10. Different Types of Flowers

JAAGO would like to specially thank its dynamic teachers who made all these possible. Through their devoted commitment to their profession, and their inherent emotional affiliation with the JAAGO children, the change is in the making and already evident in these kids!  At the same time, JAAGO thanks all its well-wishers, supporters and child-sponsors without whose active support these slum kids couldn’t have even made up to this far!

Masterchef at JAAGO

It was an absolute pleasure to have the famous food journalist & TV personality from MasterChef Australia JAAGO Foundation Rayer Bazar School. Matt the MasterChef spent a wonderful time with our kids, played basketball, exchanged views and brought a magic box for them. When they opened up the box, it was full of delicious cookies which they enjoyed a lot!

JAAGO Foundation was his best trip among all and he enjoyed the most in here with the beautiful enthusiastic little souls. He wished them all the success in their lives.

JAAGO Health Camp

Like every year, JAAGO Foundation in association with a group of volunteering doctors held JAAGO Health Camp in Rayer Bazar School and Banani School. Over 1000 civilians and children from the underprivileged slum community in Rayer Bazar & Banani were given free of cost health checkup and basic medicines to fight back frequent diseases. We registered all the individuals who showed up at the camp to keep track of each of them. Infants, kids, youth and elders all were provided with provided Medical and Health Support. JAAGO Foundation and the volunteering doctors looks forward to continue this initiatives further every year for the well-being of the impoverished community.

Imaginations with Flying Colors

It was not just another regular school-day for the class-3 and 5 children of our Rayer Bazar School’s morning shift. Since noon, the kids were getting so excited and thrilled! They had an art competition them. Our little artisans participated in an Art Competition, visualizing their thoughts and world around finally splashing colors on their creations. Every art piece made was like a Treasure for us, revealing tales and stories that keep on playing inside the minds of our little gems. The open-space of the school was well-decorated for accommodating the competition’s little participants! The selectors-panel had to undergo a tough job to select the top three art-pieces among all the colorful submissions! The winners’ names were announced and prizes were distributed! It was fun all through!

Science Book for the JAAGO Wizards

here does rain come from? Why does the Sun disappear at night? Why do volcanoes erupt? These are the few questions that involve and engage the little and lively minds. To answer their delightful queries ‘Research and Development Department’ of JAAGO Foundation developed an elementary science book for first graders.

The book “Elementary Science for Kids: Book-1” is a series of science textbooks for primary graders. The core content of this book is in total alignment with the objectives of our national curriculum, which will provide the foundation of next level concepts of different scientific topics. It illustrates the topics of fundamental science knowledge comprehending completely, that the audience of this book are our junior citizens and the language is kept basic and simple accordingly.

At the end of this topic, project work is designed as an assessment. This includes teamwork, which enables children to develop their interaction skills. This book focuses on the basic science knowledge with very fundamental English that is easy to understand for kids. It presents each chapter with hands-on activities and colorful images. Considering the personalities of our young fellows, classroom environment and social habits activities are designed in a particular manner.

Concepts are introduced with multiple warm up activities that are required by the kids to solve using their existing knowledge on the following concept. Along with these book also allows kids to practice creative and critical thinking through continuously assessment practice activities. Multiple project works and assessment practice items will help teachers to assess the understanding of our young fellows. A summary of the topic is included and new words are defined at the end of the chapter to practice and retain the major information of the topic. The initiative of developing this supplementary elementary science book series will encourage and promote activity based learning in classroom. It will also help young learners to learn and become interested and keen towards science knowledge to make sense of their surroundings. This book is designed to spark a love for science inside the little brains.

JAAGO Students at Service Fair 2016

JAAGO Rayer Bazar School children recently participated in a daylong cultural event titled ‘Anondo Mela’ ( Fun Fair ) , held at the Rayer Bazar boishakhi playground. Various development organizations under the Children Development Network (CDN) organized this fair for underprivileged children in Dhaka’s Rayer Bazar slum area recently.

The objective of the fair was to promote the importance of education among the locals of Rayer Bazar slum area and ensure education for all

The fair was inaugurated by representatives of the participating organizations. Honorable guests, visitors, and guardians then visited stalls that displayed information about their respective core activities concerning welfare of under-privileged children. Finally, a cultural programme took place where our JAAGO Foundation children along with the other local children performed with high applause from the audience.

Art for a Cause

Kate Woolever Martinez, a teacher at the St. Paul Preparatory School in downtown St. Paul, Minnesota visited Bangladesh on a cultural exchange program a few years ago. Going back, she thought of taking her experience into her native classroom and doing something meaningful, insightful.

She turned a routine portrait assignment of her art-class into a valuable lesson, much larger than life! She linked it to the Climate refugees whom she met while here, of Bangladesh, a country worst-hit by the climate change. She also showed how a non-profit school of Bangladesh, JAAGO Foundation, was sincerely trying to making a difference, by improving the lives of families living in a densely populated urban slum located at Rayer Bazar, Dhaka.When Woolever Martinez returned to Minnesota, she was eager to incorporate her experience into her classroom. She emailed our JAAGO Rayer Bazar School asking for photographs of its students. Receiving the pack as requested, she assigned each of her high school art students the task of creating a drawing or painting from one of the photographs of JAAGO students.

The majority students at St. Paul Preparatory are foreign exchange students from countries like China and Brazil who come to the US to learn English. Kate’s noble initiative created a long-lasting emotional impact in these young hearts, for Bangladesh and its distressed children!

Feel the Change, Be the Change

For an individual, knowledge is imperative for leading a decent, healthy life. For a community, knowledge is a must for ensuring a sustainable growth for a better living. For a nation, knowledge is essential for making a strong footprint in the global arena and maintaining strong international relations. As a developing country with over 160 million people, Bangladesh needs to ensure access to quality education for its large segment of under-privileged population. And to elevate their socio-economic condition, quality education is the most important tool they can equip with. JAAGO has been working towards that since last nine years. When you decide to support the education of a JAAGO child, it not only changes that very child’s life in a positive manner, but it also reshapes your perspectives towards life, forever! 

We thank all our supporters from the core of our soul, for where we are now. This was only possible only because we stood by each other. Thank You. Be the change, feel the change!