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Countless underprivileged families in Bangladesh cannot afford to provide their children with education. Non-resident Bangladeshis (NRBs) in the USA and concerned Non-Bangladeshi Americans wanted to make a little difference. Led by Dr. A. T. Rafiqur Rahman, they formed Volunteers Association for Bangladesh (VAB). In March 1999, VAB received registration with New York State and approval from US Internal Revenue Service as a tax-exempt charity to raise funds and carry out activities to improve educational opportunities in Bangladesh. Program activities started in Bangladesh in 2000, with 100 scholarships for high school students from the poorest families and support for a vocational training center. Since then, VAB has expanded its scholarship program and added several new activities. In 2003, a group of concerned Bangladeshi professionals from New Jersey under the dedicated leadership of Dr. Mohammad Farooque joined VAB as its New Jersey Chapter to organize a computer literacy program in Bangladesh with the help of D-Net, a local NGO in Bangladesh. Until 2004, VAB collaborated with Prakritajan in delivering its educational programs. In 2005, VAB began implementing its own programs with an office in Dhaka. VAB is registered with the NGO Bureau of the Government of Bangladesh as a foreign NGO.

In Summary: To date 15,000 students in 24 high schools have benefited from improved education from VAB's activities. VAB has financially supported over 3,000 students from poorest families for high school education, and 200 poor meritorious students are supported in various levels of college/university education. A total of 15 schools have received library books, computers, science laboratory equipment and other instruments. Over 400 teachers have been trained in Mathematics, English and Science. A total of 72 computer-learning centers have graduated over 10,000 students after 40 hours of training. SSC examinees in 11 schools received tutoring in Math and English. Following diagnostic test of their learning capacities, tutoring has begun in five schools for Grade VI students to remedy their deficiencies. A total of 14 pre-schools are in operation; and over 100 college and university students have been trained to work as volunteer Interns.

High School Scholarship Program
VAB's earliest and premier program helps students from the poorest families to complete high school. Initially, 10 students from Grades VI to X in 10 schools were offered scholarships; later, 20 students from each school from Grades VIII to X were assisted. Scholarships provide textbooks, exercise books and other educational materials, session, exam and tuition fees, and school uniforms. This year 580 meritorious Class VIII, IX, and X students from poor families have received VAB scholarships – 20 students each from 4 girls schools and 25 coeducational schools. Scholarship inputs are donated directly to the schools; no cash is given to students or guardians. To date, over 3000 students have benefited from this program.

College Scholarship Program
For VAB high school scholarship holders, a VAB college scholarship is the reward for outstanding performance on the nationwide Secondary School Certificate (SSC) exam taken in Grade X. College scholarships provide admission fees, textbooks, tuition fees, science equipment, calculators, college exam and session fees, and finally registration fees to sit for the centrally administered Higher Secondary Certificate Examination (HSC).

CLASS OF 2005 – In the first year of the program, VAB awarded full college (2-year program) scholarships to 39 VAB students who had achieved A+, A, and A- on the national SSC exam. In July 2006, a midterm performance review recommended 31 students to continue into the second year program; eight students dropped out for a variety of reasons including only one student who failed. These 31 students sat for the HSC exam in 2007; 25 got A; 2 B, 3 C, and only one student failed. Pass percentage was 97%. VAB assisted all 25 VAB students who scored A to enter universities, medical, or engineering colleges. As a special effort, VAB invited nine students to have a room and coaching at the VAB office to prepare themselves for the admission tests they took later and to become acquainted with Dhaka city. They brought their food from home. VAB provided a free stay, cooking facilites, and coaching for three months. VAB also helped find sponsors for several of these University Scholarships.

CLASS OF 2006 – In 2006, a total of 86 VAB students sat for SSC exams from 15 schools. 56 achieved A level (A+, A, A-) performance. 60 students (56 VAB students and 4 targeted donor students) received VAB college scholarships. With VAB assistance and advocacy, all the students have been admitted to colleges, most of them in their local areas; two were admitted to colleges in Dhaka. First-phase funds have been distributed to all scholarship holders. In July 2007, a midterm performance review was made, and out of the 60 VAB students, 53 scored grade A and 7 B. VAB secrued, from sponsors, scholarships for most of the 60 students, allowing them to complete their final year of college.

CLASS OF 2007 – In 2007, 150 VAB students (an increase of 64) sat for SSC exams and 76% passed: 102 scored A, 11 got B, and 4 C. Most fail- ures occurred in Math or in English. VAB secured sponsorship from 46 families for all 102 students.

Our Scholarship Students
Nearly half of our students come from marginal farm families with little or no land. About a quarter of their parents are day laborers and small businessmen such as street vendors, roadside tailors, and tea stall owners. The remaining are from a variety of families headed by rickshaw pullers, rural primary school teachers, mothers working as housemaids or seamstresses, fishermen, and low-level NGO workers and fatherless homes. There were also children of beggars and physically handicapped parents. In terms of student aspirations, almost one-fifth of scholarship holders want to study commerce or business. The remaining aspire to become teachers, doctors, engineers, scientists, medical assistants, or NGO workers. Most scholarship recipients are male as female students receive government scholarships. Nevertheless, almost one-fourth of high school scholarship and approximately one-third of college scholarship recipients are females.

School Improvement Program
Following the first two years of the scholarship program, VAB realized that just keeping students in the schools to complete grade X and pass SSC exam does not guarantee a quality education. Many rural schools have neither the facilities nor the capacity to offer quality education. In 2002, VAB organized a School Improvement Program to assist each school in improving its quality of education by providing computers and accessories; books for (sometimes non-existent) libraries; science equipment for poorly equipped laboratories; and sports and cultural equipment. By 2007, 14 Scholarship schools were included in the Improvement Program.

Teachers Training Program
Training teachers is crucial for improving the quality of rural education. The training motivates teachers to build confidence by reviewing the national curriculum, and increases effectiveness by modeling new teaching methods. In September 2007, the annual VAB training provided several 3-day training sessions to 91 teachers at the VAB office. Teachers of Grade VI-VIII were given content-curriculum training for math and English – the subjects students have the most trouble with on the national SSC exam. Teachers also were trained using new interactive teaching methods by peer trainers. Trainers used discussion methods and modeled how to have students think about problems rather than memorizing – new concepts for many teachers. General Science was included along with math and English. In the early years, Professor Shamsul Hoque Molla, Chairman of VAB Advisory Committee, organized this program. In recent years, Principal Hamida Ali, a member of the VAB Advisory Board, took responsibility for recruiting the trainers and organizing the training. As always, the teachers were quite excited about the training and requested more as soon as possible. To date, VAB has organized and funded training for teachers from 24 schools from Grade VI to X in three key subjects: math, English, and science.

SSC Tutoring Program
VAB initiated a pilot program of tutoring students for the national SSC Exam for mid- and poor-ranking VAB schools. Tutoring improves the performance of all students who qualify to take the SSC Exam in Grade X, and thereby improves the rankings of the schools. As English and Math are considered the major hurdles in the SSC exams, VAB provided financial assistance in 2006-7 to six pilot schools to tutor students in English and Math for three months prior to the SSC exam. The school results were impressive, and to date, a total of 11 schools have been brought under this program and are expected to excel.

Pre-School Program
VAB operates a Pre-School Program in Sirajgonj with full support from a targeted donor. The project is aimed at children who are mostly slum dwellers and whose families have not shown interest in school for lack of funds, facilities or family environment. The school has operated for three years, and provides education and play activities, as well as a nutritious snack. The results are promising with most students graduating after one year and gaining admission to Grade II at local primary schools. VAB also supports two more preschools and one primary school organized by a family foundation in Bagerhat with full support from two targeted donors and managed by a local NGO, Tripartite Development Corporation (TDC). VAB has started another 11 pre-schools in early May. A total of 22 teachers, two for each school, selected from the 11 VAB schools received a weeklong teacher training by TDC at the VAB Office in late April 2008. Teacher-trainees were selected from the VAB college students, the VAB Grade X students and from local teachers. Each Preschool will have 20 students.

Volunteers Training Program
Thirty motivated intern volunteers are the key to well-operated and monitored VAB programs. They are recruited from seniors at Dhaka universities and colleges. VAB provides them with a real-life experience in rural Bangladesh, which is a foreign world to many of them. After two days of training in practical research methods, interviewing techniques, accounting procedures, and a day of fieldwork, interns are assigned one or two schools each for a year. They monitor and research the educational progress of scholarship holders and of the school in general and distribute equipment and funds. The motivated interns make the program work and transfer their excitement to teachers and students.

Grade Six Testing / Tutoring Program
Students admitted into Grade VI in VAB schools after completing primary schools suffer from severe academic deficiencies that persist till Grade X, causing dropouts and high failure rates in the national SSC exam. VAB in 2008, decided to test entering Grade VI students in 22 schools, following government approved question-papers. Students wrote tests in Bangla, English and Mathematics, each under 20 marks. After analysis of test sheets, the impression is that only 5% of each class would be capable of passing a Grade VI exam. Test sheets in Math and English were the worst. In March 2008, 14 schools were selected for this program. And remedial tutoring has started in 10 schools with the remaining 4 schools to begin in mid April. After 3-months of tutoring, another test will be given in all 14 schools to determine what, if any, next steps need to be taken. A group of researchers has been engaged to monitor this work.

Computer Literacy Program
In 2004, VAB New Jersey launched the Computer Literacy Program (CLP) to help under- privileged youths learn basic computer skills to prepare them for the modern world. Each of the computer learning centers ( CLCs) has at least four computers and two trained instructors. As of March 2008, there are 72 fully operational computer literacy centers in 30 districts of Bangladesh. D.Net, VAB's partner in Bangladesh is responsible for field implementation. In consultation with prominent computer scientists in Bangladesh a curriculum was developed. Based on that curriculum a student's manual ‘Esho Computer Shikhi' (Let Us Learn Computer) has been published. This guidebook has gained wide acceptance in Bangladesh as the best manual of its kind. The CLP to date has produced 150 trained teachers and over 10,000 student graduates who have completed 40 hours of intensive instruction and training. Of these, 48% are female students. Success of the CLP has attracted Microsoft Southeast Asia to entrust D.Net with the implementation of its "CLICK" (Community for Learning Information, Communication) Program to D.Net at 13 rural locations. The CLICK centers provide Internet communication and job training with advanced computer skills. Given that there are some 65,000 villages in Bangladesh, VAB realizes that the ability of the program to bring about a meaningful difference in the lives of the underprivileged youths requires wide participation by indigenous organizations. While in the past virtually all the sponsors came from non-resident Bangladeshis, the success of the existing centers as created interest among Bangladeshis, and in 2008, we are expecting more than 50% of the center sponsors to come from local donors.

Also, leveraging on the availability of computers and technical support at the computer literacy centers, preparations are underway to develop educational CD ROMs to enhance English learning and communication skills. VAB has launched the first phase of the program of the Computer Teaches Everyday English, CTEE initiative to set up five pilot projects.

VAB Emergency Programs 2000-2007
VAB supported several ad hoc activities in response to natural disasters. Due to extreme flooding in 2004, volunteer teams from VAB and Prakritajan solicited local funds and supplies and delivered emergency supplies to 15 VAB schools. Each school received 50 packages of food and medicine. Additionally, the team members, mostly professional doctors and teachers, carried relief goods and medicines from their own sources. In response to heavy flooding in 2007, donations were received from 45 individuals and one organization to the tune of $8,550, part of which was wired to Prothom Alo Tran Tahabil, and the remaining were wired to the Chief Advisor's Relief and Welfare Fund, as desired by the donors.

The "Super Cyclone" Sidr struck Bangladesh on 15 November 2007, causing unprecedented devastation to property and livelihood of thousands of poor people in Bangladesh, especially in the districts along the coast of the Bay of Bengal. VAB volunteers from New Jersey collected $13,641 from VAB patrons and with the support of D-Net initially provided relief activities focusing on safe drinking water, water purifying tablets, medicine, dry food, cash for purchasing food to cook and serve, and clothes. Later, they established five deep tube wells and distributed textbooks to affected area students. In addition, $5,641 was deposited to the Bangladesh Government Chief Advisor's Relief and Welfare Fund. VAB volunteers from New York raised funds from several donors, which were used to provide a tin roof and furniture for the only cyclone-affected VAB school, Bangla Bazar Girls High School, Gosani, Patuakhali.

Organization, Management, and Operation of VAB
VAB is organized to provide a framework for people to people programs (between USA and Bangladesh) in order to help build and strengthen community organizations for self-sustainable development in Bangladesh. In the USA, VAB’s network of dedicated volunteers is organized into Directors, Advisors, Managers, Associates, and ad hoc volunteers. VAB-New Jersey is managed under the dedicated leadership of Dr. Mohammad Farooque. Volunteers provide guidance for policy, planning and management of VAB’s programs in Bangladesh, raise funds, and publish detailed annual reports and several newsletters a year. VAB’s accounts are audited, and its reports are submitted annually to State authorities and U.S. Internal Revenue Service. In addition to achieving effectiveness and efficiency of VAB’s work, transparency and accountability are also ensured. Annual visits to Bangladesh by VAB Directors and Associates (at their own expense) foster oversight and close collaboration with staff and volunteers in Bangladesh to implement VAB’s goals. In Bangladesh, VAB Executive Director, Dr. James Tejosh Das, and three full-time paid staff manage and execute VAB programs. An Advisory Committee of seven persons under the Chairmanship of Professor Syed Giasuddin Ahmed listed with the NGO Bureau provides overall guidance on policies and program activities. VAB also relies on volunteer Interns from local universities / colleges for program management and implementation of VAB activities.

The 29 schools and the 72 CLCs of VAB are located in 14 and 32 districts respectively. The location and details of each school or CLC can be seen in the VAB website (www.vabonline.org) or be obtained by contacting the VAB-Bangladesh Office.

Funding for VAB
Most of the funding for VAB activities comes from approximately 500 individual donors—NRBs and non-Bangadeshi Americans. A considerable number of these donations are targeted for specific activities such as CLCs, college scholarships for specific students and school scholarships for students from a specific school. VAB raises these funds through letter campaigns carried out three or four times a year and fundraising dinners. In recent years VAB has been raising approximately $170,000 a year, which is considerably less than what is needed to meet the rising demands for VAB activities in Bangladesh. VAB will seek to raise funds in Bangladesh as well as expand and intensify fundraising among NRBs and others in the USA.

Lessons Being Learned
VAB volunteers observe that their program activities are achieving positive results such as reducing drop out, expanding science education, improving student performance in SSC exams. They also find that school authorities, students, guardians and local communities do respond positively to outside initiatives for collaboration, if sustained over time. For example, they note that schools and teachers offered their time and money for teachers training, furniture for science laboratories and libraries and scholarship awardees offer free tutoring. VAB will soon mount a research program to record and analyze these lessons.

VAB Looks to the Future
In the next three years VAB intends to expand its basic model of excellence from 29 schools to about 50 schools in both nearby areas and underserved districts. This model includes the following activities: scholarships for poor students, teacher training, science laboratory equipment and library books, computer literacy, tutorials for SSC examinees and Grade VI students, and pre-schools. In widening our coverage of schools and base of experience, we hope to impact Bangladesh public policies and programs in the future. For this exciting expansion, VAB needs your support.

VAB is making great progress. Now, we are asking you, who care about children and their future and who want Bangladesh to be a stable democratic country, to contribute to VAB.