What could the future hold for *Prabha?
- Illiteracy – 61% of women in Prabha’s community can’t read or write.
- Child marriage and early motherhood – in this part of Bangladesh, 57% of girls marry before they are 18 and 80% of girls become a mum while still in their teens.
- Ongoing poverty – Prabha’s dad is a low-paid casual labourer. He can’t work at all in the monsoons, the storm seasons or the extreme summer heat. The family often can’t afford adequate food, let alone school essentials for their daughter. Unless something changes, Prabha’s life of poverty will be perpetuated.
Thankfully, six-year-old Prabha has a chance to build foundations for a more secure and hopeful future. She attends a learning centre run by our local partners, where all her educational needs are provided. Female teachers model a different future. We hope she’ll be able to grasp it.
This Harvest we want to set more children like Prabha on a different path, by launching five new preschools, serving at least 225 children aged 4-7, in a remote coastal area where education provision is minimal. It will cost £23,503 to establish five new preschools and run them for two years.
Dacope Upzila is one of the most environmentally and economically vulnerable areas in Bangladesh. Poverty, limited transport, long distances to school, frequent natural disasters and low parental engagement combine to hold children back.
Many can’t start school at the appropriate age, and don’t attend regularly, so dropout rates are high. Opportunity is even more limited in early years education – rural schools lack facilities and learning materials, and don’t have trained early years teachers. Our partners say: “This negatively affects children’s cognitive, emotional, physical and social development during their most formative years.”
Our partners believe that establishing five community-based preschools in underserved areas will give marginalised children a secure headstart on an educational journey which has the potential to change their lives for good.
They say they will create foundations for the future in “safe, joyful and inclusive learning environments” which “strengthen early learning foundations, improve school readiness and promote holistic child development while enhancing parental awareness and community participation in education.”
From our abundance in this Harvest season, we want to help these children who have so little.
Can you join us?
If we reach our £23,503 target, the preschools will launch in January 2027 and run for an initial two years. Please give generously.
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