He dreams of educating a million children

Hasan Abed’s NGO gives education to 10 per cent of all Bangladeshi kids.

More than 1.6 million children in Bangladesh go to school every day because of one man’s vision. And that man is Fazle Hasan Abed. His dream to educate young children has helped millions of families fight poverty, illiteracy, disease and social injustice.

At 77, Fazle travels the world to speak at conferences and share the secret behind his success. In an interview with Khaleej Times, Fazle shared his hope for creating a world free from discrimination.

“One should wish to educate their children. Today, even the poorest people understand their children can have a better life with education. The next step is to enable these children to get into schools — whether they live in slums or rural areas,” he says. Ask him about the challenges in raising funds and he quickly dismisses the notion saying: “Resources are limited but a country’s government should take up the task of improving education in places which face challenges.”

His efforts in championing social reform have won him top accolades including the WISE Prize for Education, Clinton Global Citizen Award and the Open Society Prize among several others. In 2010, he was appointed by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to the Eminent Persons’ Group for the Least Developed Countries.

“There has been real progress in education, particularly when it comes to improving access to schools. About 10 years ago, there were 100 million children out of school. Now, it has reduced to 57 million children. However, the improved access does not say much about quality of education.”

His NGO, BRAC, provides education to 10 per cent of all Bangladeshi children. “Children who go to school should benefit from education and learn a skill which will give them a better livelihood. There are problems of quality and the investments made by developing countries in education have not been enough. Sometimes you find children go through the education cycle and still remain unemployable — which reflects the real issues we face.”

In Bangladesh, Fazle has collaborated with the government to create a unique programme to train government staff working in the field of education.

“We have set up a university where government officials receive training in education leadership. A Master of Education (M.Ed.) course has been partnered with Columbia University, where all district education officers undergo a course to learn best practices.”

Ask him about his next big challenge and he smiles saying: “There are teachers who have taught in a particular way and it is very difficult to change their mindset. Bringing in a new leadership to change existing thoughts and systems is a big challenge.”

muaz@khaleejtimes.com