Getting our kids to school here on the whole is pretty straightforward – but for some countries is practically impossible.
A case in point is Bangladesh, where for months on end a third of the country is flooded during monsoon season. During this time, over a million children become cut off as their villages become inaccessible islands.
But necessity truly is the mother of invention, and to ensure these kids don’t miss out on their education, Bangladeshi NGO Shidhulai Swanirvar Sangstha has come up with the idea to build floating schools!
These boats have all the facilities a regular school would have, and are even powered by solar panels on the roof.
The boats are a lifeline for these kids, as no matter how flooded their area gets the boats can chug along on the swollen rivers regardless, and can even drop them home!
“I founded Shidhulai Swanirvar Sangstha in 1998,” says Mohammed Rezwan. “I seldom missed school days as a child – I used to go to school on a family boat during the flooding. But many of my friends were denied education. I wanted to do something about this.
“If children couldn’t come to school, the school should come to them. I came up with a creative solution to the problem of extreme flooding and introduced ‘floating schools’ to the students in 2002.
“Our school boat first serves as a school bus, collecting children from riverside stops; then it docks and class begins. It has a classroom, book library and electronic resources. Our boat is solar powered, allowing the school to have an Internet-linked computer, which makes learning more interactive and easier for children from disadvantaged backgrounds.”
What a wonderful idea!
