Education and Well-being

The Shishu Neer children come from extreme poverty and are mostly homeless or living in harsh conditions in the slums of Dhaka, without the ability to access formal education.

Our children receive primary education based on the national curricula by the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education (MoPME) and National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB), in a non-formal setting. Our curricula include — on top of the national curricula:

• Safety education (we teach our children about how to keep themselves safe against harm, and how to contact and seek help)
• Health education (we teach our children about the necessity of healthy meals and other health or hygiene practices and how to access these facilities both in rural and urban settings)
• Income-centric vocational education and ICT education (we provide training as well as materials on dressmaking and on ICT such as composing documents, managing spreadsheet, using internet, and editing photos)
• Human rights education (our children and their parents are aware about their rights and how to stop rights abuse)
• Extracurricular activities like dancing and painting

We do not stop at basic education — we continue to support our children during secondary education by organising out-of-school tutoring at our premises.

Besides education, the children at Shishu Neer practise personal hygiene habits and learn to take care of their physical health. They are able to regularly brush their teeth, bathe, launder their cloths, and have a healthy lunch on school days. If any of the children becomes ill, a registered physician tends to him/her. The children regularly receive necessary learning instruments such as stationeries. They also take part in child-appropriate entertainment activities. Every year, each of our children also gets a new set of clothing during Eid.

Furthermore, we put a lot of focus to raise awareness among the parents of these children. Regular meetings are held with the parents where several topics are discussed: social issues, child rights and child education, positive attitude towards children, importance of cleanliness in habitation and lifestyle, the need for special care for female children, and suchlike matters.

Finally, Shishu Neer Bangladesh provides specialised vocational training to homeless or slum-dwelling children with hitherto no access to education, essentially presenting them with a possibility to integrate into the mainstream society.