UN NEWS: UNESCO presents the International Reading Association Literacy Award to the Dhaka Ahsania Mission

by Minoli de Soysa

Dhaka Ahsania Mission Fights Illiteracy in Bangladesh

Each year, to commemorate International Literacy Day on September 8, UNESCO presents the International Reading Association Literacy Award to organizations promoting literacy in their countries. In 2003, the award, which includes a $15,000 prize, went to the Dhaka Ahsania Mission (DAM).  The International Reading Association has supported the award since 1979. DAM will receive the award in Dhaka on September 8.

Photos from www.ahsania.org
DAM: A woman learns to read at her local ganokendra
Disadvantaged children participate in a painting contest organized by DAM

DAM was founded in 1958 by educationist Khanbadahur Ahsanullah as a small charity working in the slums of Dhaka. It has since grown into a leading NGO fighting illiteracy in 11 districts around the country.

Since the late 1970s, DAM has been providing basic education to all ages of the country’s poorest of poor. It helps working children to learn, and assists adults, especially women, to become more independent and expand income-generating activities to improve their standard of living. In addition, the Mission runs classes about protecting the environment, clean water, hygiene and health, drugs, and protecting the rights of women and children.

Ehsanur Rahman, DAM's deputy executive director, is happy to gain international recognition for the Mission’s work but says, "There’s still a long way to go". Although Bangladesh has made great strides since the 1980s, when literacy was only 25 percent, Mr. Rahman believes that less than half of the population is still able to read and write.

Women, often denied their basic human rights, bear the brunt of the problem, suffering a literacy rate that is half that of men's.

In a speech to the NGO Forum on promoting an integrated approach to rural development held in Geneva in June this year, DAM’s Executive Director, Kazi Rafiqul Alam, describes the status of women in his country thus:

“Girls are to go to school last and drop out first with the slightest economic jerk, with no scope for sustaining the literacy that they might acquire. The girls have no say over their marriage at whatever age it may be and almost no control over the children to be begotten...The women have little ownership on the assets of the family, little control over the family decisions, far less in the society. They have no employable skill training whatsoever, their movement outside the family is somewhat controlled, they have little scope for working in the productive sector, so the poverty rate is double among the women. Thus women have a very low status within the family and the society. The women are not quite aware about their own rights and still less is the possibility of realizing such rights.”

Illiteracy In Bangladesh:
Facts and Figures
~ Education Watch

  • 41.4 percent of the population 11 years and above are literate

  • 47.6 percent of males are literate, with 28.1 percent having advanced literacy skills

  • 35.6 percent of females are literate, with 13.3 percent having advanced literacy skills

  • 21 percent of the population have initial literacy skills while 20.4 percent have advanced literacy skills

  • 49.3 percent are non-literate

  • 9.2 percent are semi-literate

  • 63.6 percent of the urban population is literate

  • 37.2 percent of the rural population is literate

In the light of such huge obstacles, trying to improve the lot of Bangladesh’s women is obviously no easy task but Mr. Rahman is confident that attitudes are changing and that women, once educated, can go on to take control of their own lives. After taking basic education classes, women are taught how to manage an income-generating project as well as survival skills on health, hygiene and other issues.

DAM carries out its work through 807 ganokendras, or people’s centres, established in seven districts of the country with a membership of 80,700. To begin with, DAM organizes a series of community meetings so people can decide how to go about building the centre using their own materials and land. DAM provides support once construction is begun and helps with books, training, teachers and technical support. The community recruits one facilitator to start activities and operate the center, which is managed by a community-formed Management Committee.

The ganokendra serves as a meeting point for people to gather, read books and newspapers, discuss their problems and identify issues for community attention or to be brought to the attention of the authorities.

Since the members of the centres decide their own activities, each has organized different activities depending on their own needs and interests.  Of the 807 ganokendras, 247 have programmes on income generation with funds from DAM. Some members have links with other NGOs that provide training and micro-credit.

To Mr. Rahman, the day when rural women have access to the latest technology and market information via a computer is not as far off as it may seem to other people.

DAM has already provided computers and training as well as CD-ROMs to some ganokendra members, and they are interested in learning more. Where there is no electricity, solar power is used.

In the future, DAM intends to concentrate on expanding their programmes to cover geographically remote areas, partnership with the private sector and increased information technology.

For more information you can visit DAM on www.ahsania.org