Reports published in mass media about Amader Pathshal

Daily Star report

A day of fun and frolic

Annual festival of Amader Pathshala

Shironamhin Performs At The Event. Photo Courtesy: Taslima AkhterA Correspondent

The underprivileged children of Amader Pathshala had a day of fun, music, and entertainment with Shironamhin, Krishnakali, Shamogeet, and Leela at the annual festival of the school on December 25. The vividly decorated school, located in Pallabi, wore a festive look, set off by colourfully attired students. The daylong programme included story telling, painting, singing, drama, and announcement of results of annual examinations.

Members of Amader Pathshala Trust; parents of the students, who are mostly rickshaw pullers or garment workers and the people of surrounding areas attended the programme.

The school children started painting in the morning. To encourage them, a prize was handed out to everyone who came up with a painting. “We teach our students the principle of cooperation as opposed to competition. In other words, if you are a student, you need to do your best rather than worry about doing better than the next person,” said Hassan Rubel, the director of Amader Pathshala. “It's really moving to see how the kids feel about each other. A few days ago, I found that a whole band of children were crying because one boy among them did not do well in the exam,” added Ferdous, a senior teacher of the school.

After refreshment was served in the afternoon, the staging of “Pagla Dashu” by students amused the audience.

Popular band Shironamhin rendered some of its most popular numbers after Arup Rahee's band Leela rendered some Lalon songs. Tanzir Tuhin, the vocal of Shironamhin said, “The success of Amader Pathshala is an example and an encouragement to those who care about a better future for the children.” Tuhin added, “It's amazing to see how the community supported school is running without any sponsorship or funding of big corporations. We hope to continue our support for the school in the future.”

Krishnakali and Shamogeet rendered some songs for the children, including some of their familiar numbers. Then, Kabial Ajit Sarkar and Bimal Sarkar, with their group from Dinajpur entertained the audience with a performance of their Pala Gaan. They called on the children to work for a society that does not discriminate against women.

All the artistes called on the audience to pull out the stops to support the school.

New age report

Amader Pathshala caters for
poor children’s edn
Staff Correspondent

Ibrahim always thought education was not for him as his blind father can hardly maintain his family.
But, Amader Pathshala, a school for underprivileged children, has proved his idea false, — like other children of his age, he is now a student of Class I at the school.
‘I can study as this school provides education free of cost. Here with education, I can get some other facilities like meals,’ said Ibrahim.
One hundred and sixty students of Amader Pathshala have the same story.
‘The school was set up to provide quality education for the poor children,’ said Abul Hassan Rubel, headmaster of the school.
‘Normally, the poor children do not have the access to quality education. Either, they go for the madrassah education or to the NGO schools,’ he said on Saturday, when the school provided the students with the annual report cards.
Students of the school rendered songs and staged plays. Famous band music group, Shironamhin, singer Krishnakali Islam and other musical groups also performed.
With the hope to bring a qualitative change in the education for the poor, Hassan and some other youths started Amader Pathshala in January in 2008 in a rented house in Mirpur with 110 students, mostly from the underprivileged group of society.
The school has now 160 students and eight full time teachers. Students can study from nursery class to the Class VI.
Students are taught according to the National curriculum but, Hassan said, they have their own system to teach. ‘The main difference between our system and the general one is that our students do not play a passive role, rather they are lively and active,’ he said.
From the very beginning, the school is run by individual funding. ‘The fund we collect from individuals is not enough to complete all the programmes,’ Hassan said.
‘Most importantly, we need a permanent campus. Without permanent campus, we are not getting government recognition as a school,’ he added.