Helping poorest children of Bangladesh have a better life through education

The founder of an organisation that provides education to 1.6 million children in Bangladesh each day has told of his dream of helping young people rise out of poverty and discrimination.

Sir Fazle Hasan Abed has won awards across the globe for the work of BRAC, the international development organisation whose work reaches 135 million people in Bangladesh and 10 other countries.

Sir Fazle believes passionately in the power of education to change people’s lives.

In an interview with the Khaleej Times website, he said: “Today, even the poorest people understand their children can have a better life with education.

“The next step is to enable these children to get into schools – whether they live in slums or rural areas.”

BRAC’s mission is to empower people and communities in situations of poverty, illiteracy, disease and social injustice. It aims to achieve large-scale, positive changes through economic and social programmes that enable men and women to realise their potential.

Sir Fazle added: “Children who go to school should benefit from education and learn a skill which will give them a better livelihood.

“There are problems of quality and the investments made by developing countries in education have not been enough. Sometimes you find children go through the education cycle and still remain unemployable – which reflects the real issues we face.”

You can learn more about the issues surrounding education in Bangladesh in our Explore channel.