So one Saturday night we set up our Skype-date and they told me about their idea to build a social business school and create the International Sustainable School Initiative, a charity that would collect donations to fund the creation the school and possible future replications of the school. That was the start, now it has grown to a larger group of Grameen Internship Alumni and even more of their friends. It really has been amazing seeing how many people are eager to jump on board, and after reading this if you are interested in helping out (we need all of it we can get!) please send me an email: mc.futbol@gmail.com
Refresher – What is a social business?
A social business is a non-loss business that provides a good or service, which works towards achieving a social objective. The difference between a social business and a charity is that they actually charge their customers a small fee instead of just giving handouts. They charge a small price to their customers so that they can cover their expenses and earn some profit, which is then reinvested back into the business. The advantage of this is that once the social business is set up it is not reliant on donations in order to continue operating and expand. This makes it much easier for the social business to expand quickly and reach a larger number of people.
The Future Site of our School
What is wrong with the education system?
There are a number of problems with the education system, but the most prevalent ones are: over crowding, a lack of school supplies and a shortage of quality teacher, especially English teachers. The problem in Bangladesh is that despite the fact that 'English' is often considered the most important subject, it is taught very poorly in schools. After independence English was banned in Bangladesh, and now at least it is now a mandatory part of the primary and secondary school curriculum. Unfortunately the ban meant that the teachers who teach English, never learnt English in school themselves and cannot hold up a conversation. They simply teach enough writing and reading to be able to pass the nationwide grade 5 tests, but do little to help kids with the more useful conversation English. The reason English is viewed as so important is that all universities in Bangladesh teach in English, it is also the international language, the computer language and the best jobs all require it.
Trying to speak English with the Kids
The Opportunity
David’s coordinator from the Grameen Bank, Babor Ali, is planning on leaving the Grameen Bank and going to set up a school on a piece of land he owned outside of the city. Together with Dave and Melanie they went to the area and interview teachers at other schools in the area, as well as Grameen Borrowers with kids who would be among the target customers of the school. They did interviews and collected data on what people wanted from an education, how much people were willing to pay for what they got and how much it cost to build and run the competing schools. The school would provide a number of benefits to its students while still being affordable: a high quality English teacher, smaller class sizes and computer literacy training.
1) English
Our school will address the need for a strong English program, by paying the money required to attract a sufficiently strong English teacher. Students will learn reading, writing, grammar and spoken English, which will give them an advantage when going to university and looking for a job.
Another School in the Area and Babor Ali
2) Computer Literacy
Another advantage that the school will give its students is access to a computer, and computer literacy training. Being able to use a computer is an incredibly important skill when looking for a job, however most Bengalis never get to use a computer, especially in rural areas. The problem with computers is that rural areas only have power eight hours a day, and it is expensive to run a generator the rest of the day. Our school will have an innovative solution to this, where we will buy a number of energy efficient Eee Box PCs from ASUS, and essentially get a giant battery for them, called an IPS Battery from Grameen Communications. The battery will work for the desktops similar to how a laptop battery works. The school will have 5 computers and all students will get time on the computers to learn the basic functions.
3) Smaller Class Sizes
Another advantage of the school will be small class sizes and length of the school day. The average class size in Bangladesh is be around 50-70 students to one teacher, and this is taking into account the massive drop out rates that plague the higher grades. In our school there will be six classes each with 45 students (Kindergarden to Class 5). 45 students still sounds big, but for Bangladesh it is actually small and it is needed to ensure the feasibility of the project. It is hoped that by having such a high standard of teachers and courses, the student retention will be strong and many students will continue all the way from Kindergarden to Class 5.
Dave visiting another School in the Area
4) Longer Days
In other schools classes often only run from 9am until noon, and then the afternoon is often taken up by tutoring. The students are forced to pay extra just to get a full day of learning. In our school the students will receive a full day of school, which will minimize the need for additional tutoring, and thus save families from spending additional money on tutoring.
5) All for a Reasonable Price
We will be charge its students a monthly tuition fee of tk 500 per month. This is more than the other private schools however Dave and Melanie talked to many parents in the area and they all agreed that it was a fair price given the quality of the education that they would be getting. We will also be offering a scholarship program so that families who cannot afford to send their children to the school will still have the opportunity to do so. Each scholarship would cover anywhere between half to all of the cost of the tuition depending on the financial situation of the family.
