Education

BLS High School

The BLS High School is located in Mirpur, Dhaka and instructs students from nursery classes to tenth grade (S.S.C. or Secondary School Certificate level). BLS is an acronym for Bangladesh Literate Society. The school was established in 1974 for the camp children in Mirpur. It covered its operating costs by collecting tuition fee from students. However, since 2014, the school committee faced funding deficits as the students were poor and did not have the ability to pay their tuition fee. The number of students continued to decrease. The school building also fell into a state of severe disrepair and the furniture became damaged and unfit for use. In January 2015, Mr. Anwar Khan, President of OBAT Helpers, visited the school during his annual trip to Bangladesh and met with the teachers and the school committee. During his visit, the committee requested him to take over the school. The MOU signing ceremony was held on 25th Feb 2015 at the school and with that, the BLS school became another addition to OBAT’s education program.

After taking over the responsibility of the school, OBAT provided proper seating arrangements, decorated the classrooms and built the campus boundaries. OBAT also provided training to the teachers to build their capacity and increase the effectiveness of their teaching. Subjects taught in class include Math, Global Studies, Science, Computers, English and Bengali. Exams take place twice a year and assessments are carried out on a weekly basis.

Since Mirpur is the largest camp in Dhaka, with a total number of twenty-four camps, the BLS School fills a big void for quality education for the camp’s children. By receiving an education today, camp children will have a bright future in store for them and they will also help lift their entire community out of poverty. Previously, these children had almost no way of receiving an education from a reputable educational institute. Schooling from an established institution is costly and the camp families struggle to make ends meet and put food on the table. Hence, sending their kids to school is not a priority. The BLS school is providing free education for the children of the camps. Over the years, the structural condition of the school as well as the curriculum has also been continuously improving. One of the most important contributions of this school is bringing back previous dropouts to academics. Some camp students have to drop out of studies to help their parents earn an income. There are other students who struggle academically and hence cannot gain admission to another school. The BLS School is giving an opportunity to such students to continue their education and ultimately secure their futures. Other projects run by OBAT on the BLS campus are a tutoring center and an IT center. These projects are run in the after school hours. Due to the presence of these additional facilities, the students can further enhance the quality of education they are receiving by benefitting from the extra help from the tutoring center as well as receiving computer training support from the IT center. Due to the presence of these additional facilities, the students can further enhance the quality of education they are receiving by benefiting from the extra help from the tutoring center as well as receiving computer training support from the IT center. The students are also eligible to receive scholarships to fulfill their dreams for a professional education. Eighteen teachers currently teach at the school- all have a graduate degree. 433 students, including 245 girls and 188 boys, study at the school.

Currently, the BLS School is being sponsored with the generous support of Ejaz Samad from Seattle.