Bangladesh: Learning skills for work rekindles dreams of a brighter future

With the support of GPE and UNICEF, Urmi is now learning how to use the computer and picking up skills to build a better future for herself, her family, and her community.

After half an hour’s walk, 16-year-old Urmi arrives at the Cox’s Bazar Polytechnic Institute, Bangladesh. As always, she is the first one there. Urmi likes to make the most of her time by practising on the computer.

It has been a few months since she enrolled in the course offered by the Bureau of Non-Formal Education (BNFE) with the support of GPE and UNICEF, where Urmi learns computer and design skills. Touching the keyboard, she can hardly believe that she is sitting in a classroom again.

Mom, how will I go to school?

By 12, Urmi had gone through many challenges in life. At two, she lost her father. Four years later, she lost one of her legs in a landslide. She watched as her mother, Delwara, reared goats and grew vegetables to raise three children alone. School fees were starting to become a burden, but, above all, her classroom was not a safe space.

After finishing 6th grade, Urmi was forced to leave school.

“No one wanted to be friends with me at school. No one talked to me. They said various things to me,” Urmi remembers. “My dream was to study and get a job. But because of my physical disability, I couldn’t.”

Delwara saw how much her youngest daughter wanted to learn and work. Urmi’s dream to make a life for herself was slipping away, without an alternative career path.

“At that time, I felt a lot of pain. She was very sad because she couldn’t study,” Delwara remembers. “Urmi used to ask me, ‘All the students at school have their hands and feet, but I don't have a leg. How will I go to school?’”

In Cox’s Bazar, almost one in two adolescents of secondary education age do not attend school. The weight of poverty, social norms and frequent disasters constrain their opportunities to continue their schooling. And for children with disabilities like Urmi, barriers such as social stigma and inadequate school support make it even more challenging.

As a result, their lives change forever. Dropping out, children are more likely to start working, marry, and get involved in crimes including drug abuse and violence.

In Urmi’s case, her love of learning didn’t stop. Despite being out of school, she borrowed storybooks from friends to read Bengali tales and learn about the world beyond her own.

 The only student with the correct answer

A few years passed, and then last year a surveyor named Faruk came to Urmi’s house and shared with Delwara and Urmi that they would provide free job training to out-of-school adolescents.

This is part of the Skill-Focused Literacy for Out-of-School Adolescents project, managed by the BNFE under the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education, with support from GPE and UNICEF. The project has been designed for the most vulnerable out-of-school adolescents (14 to 18 years) of the host community in the Cox’s Bazar district and aims to empower them with foundational literacy and numeracy, occupational and life skills to become productive citizens of the future.

Urmi was immediately interested.

“Since childhood, I had dreamed of learning computer work, so I enrolled in the Computer Office Application and Graphic Designing course,” said Urmi.

On her first day at the Cox’s Bazar Polytechnic Institute, she met Masud, an instructor in the Department of Computer Science and Technology. He had gone through training to provide literacy and skills-based training to out-of-school adolescents. During the training, he learned how to make effective teaching materials and assess students’ abilities.

To understand where the students were, he gave them all a pre-assessment.

“Only Urmi was able to give the correct answers,” recounted Masud. 

Being self-reliant

Since then, Urmi has attended classes regularly and made new friends. She learned many new skills, including computer typing, printing photos, creating CVs, making PowerPoint presentations, and graphic design. 

Step by step, Urmi is regaining confidence and joy. She feels that she can dream again. After completing the course, Urmi wants to open a computer shop and offer services based on the skills she has been learning in the training.   

"That way, I can become self-reliant,” says Urmi.