by Naim-Ul-Karim
DHAKA, Nov. 9 (Xinhua) -- Almost every day after four-hour labor from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. for 600 taka (about 8.57 U.S. dollars) a month, Habibur Rahman, a 13-year-old child, walks for nearly half an hour to his school in Bangladesh capital Dhaka for class at 2:30 p.m..
The poverty-ridden orphan, whose mother works at a garment factory for 1,963 taka (about 28.04 U.S. dollars) a month, is now studying at class-IV at the school for underprivileged children run by a development organization.
The calm and quiet Rahman, who bears roll No. 3 among 35 students in class-IV at the school, namely "UCEP (Underprivileged Children's Educational Programs)-Bangladesh," nourishes the dream of defeating poverty through enriching himself with ray of knowledge.
"I love study and for which I love to go to my school regularly because this is the only way to reach my dreams," Rahman told Xinhua Monday.
"Defeating poverty is not something very difficult task if I can continue my study and develop myself with education. So I wantto be educated," said the boy, who seemed really determined.
Masuma Akhter, senior math teacher of the school, said Rahman is very much regular in attending classes and keen on study.
"He is also talented. But you know he works at a shop so it's not convenient for him to give entire time for study. We appreciate his efforts to study," Akhter added.
While Rahman was narrating about his miserable life, many of his classmates, including the first boy of that class Shahidul Islam, surrounded the Xinhua correspondent and shared their fellow feelings.
"He has been the top student of the final exam. I think now he is putting more efforts to grab my number one position in class-V," Islam said with a laughing face.
Meanwhile, another friend of Rahman said he does not have the opportunity of studying at night regularly as his poor mother cannot even afford all the time to buy a candle so that he can read at pitch-dark night.
He is very poor compared to many other students in the school because he is fatherless and his 22-year-old married elder brother, who is also a day laborer having no education, does not earn much money to support their four-member family's life, Rahman' s friends said.
They said Rahman lives in a tiny room, with a rent of 1200 taka (about 17.14 U.S. dollars) per month, in a slum house. Though electricity is available, the landlord rebukes the tenants who keep switches on after 9 p.m..
In most of the days, meanwhile, Rahman's friends also said he cannot complete his homework as assigned by teachers at the school before 9 p.m. in line with deadline of landlord since there is frequent load shedding due to acute power shortage in the South Asian country.
"I can manage the problem, I have some friends who are richer than us so I can study at their homes at night," Rahman said.
He, however, said the school authorities do not take any tuition fee which virtually made an opportunity of learning education for him and many other underprivileged children who cannot afford to go to other privately or state-owned schools due to poverty.
The UCEP-Bangladesh-run schools, first established in 1972 by a philanthropic New Zealander Lindsay Allan Cheyne, are now a hub of over 34,000 working children striving to inculcate marketable skills and provide employment support service through general education and vocational training in close collaboration with industries and employers throughout Bangladesh.
Senior spokesman of the UCEP-Bangladesh Rafiqul Islam told Xinhua that by now it has grown into an established Non-governmental Organization having 52 general schools and 10 Technical schools located in six major cities of the country.
During the period from 1972 to 2009, he said, the UCEP-Bangladesh extended support service to as many as 160,469 poor urban working children like Rahman.
"Sometimes, I fear whether at last I would be able to continue my study because if my sick mother is sacked from her job I have to work full time for managing three meals a day," Rahman said.
Special report: Global News Day for Children
