Another grueling 20 hours trip from Philadelphia to Dhaka is over as I started my work at Geneva Camp the same day after a few hours of rest. My biannual trips are only two weeks long and quite pressing, as my goal is to visit as many of the 52 DoPeace Learning Centers as possible spread around Dhaka, Chattogram, Saidpur, Rangpur, and Cox’s Bazaar. But the summer visits are specially tough with the scorching heat and humidity.
Each visit has a theme, and this one is “accountability” to make quantum leaps in the quality of education. We started five years ago with the goal of taking the poorest of the poor children from the streets and bring them to one room school within walking distance from their slum residences. These are the children who would otherwise be unlikely to get into the school system.
After our success in getting thousands into the school system, we started working to raise the quality of education. Our goal was to graduate students from our preschool with the skills of 70% of grade one curriculum. This pursuit is ongoing. The purpose is that our students will be at higher percentile academically when they start primary school and would likely continue with that standing as they continue their education.
Accountability is emphasized from the top of the organization to all the members in the field. The perpetual question is: Are we meeting the goals today to achieve the vision we have to change the lives of the children?
It is always worthwhile to reiterate the vision. Our vision is that the majority of the children in the communities we serve would achieve higher education. They will overcome the barriers of child labor, no role models in the community, and without any history of education in the family.
In this visit I want to explore how accountability is measured at the level starting from the Executive Directors and permeating to supervisors and teachers. I want to see how the students feel about the future they are pursuing, and how their parents and the community are dug into this vision.
Do they feel they are accountable for the daily progress we absolutely need to move forward?
Photo: Teachers and students at Al-Falah Bangladesh
