Bangladesh- All will agree that, as a Greek philosopher once said, “the foundation of every state is the education of its youth.” Yet, education continues to be an issue.
- A thirty-eight-year-old Bangladeshi KORVI RAKSHAND has taken the challenge. Together with his six friends, he established the JAAGO Foundation (the Bangla word means “wake up”), a non-profit organization established in 2007 that aimed to address problems of access and quality education for underprivileged children.
- From such small beginnings, it has grown into one of the largest, most dynamic non-profit organizations in its field in Bangladesh. With education as its core program, it provides free of cost, government-recognized English-language primary and secondary education to underprivileged children through eleven traditional and online schools in ten districts of Bangladesh.
- Venturing outside of his sheltered background, Rakshand started his journey by saying to himself, “Wake up!”—and, in the process of truly seeing—has awakened others as well. He said, “We wanted to start a movement. We were young, we were activists. It was a movement of young people. We said, ‘Wake up, it’s time to wake up. Not from your dreams but from (within) your heart.’”
- The RMAF board of trustees recognizes his determined spirit and quiet courage in turning away from a secure life to a more demanding one of working for the underprivileged; his strong, visionary leadership in democratizing education and inspiring thousands of young people to heed the call of social transformation, and for thus demonstrating how the young can be not just the bearers of the promise of the nation, but its realization.
In Bangladesh, one of the world’s most populated countries, education is critical in addressing widespread poverty as well as sustaining and fueling the remarkable economic advances the country has been making in recent years. This is the challenge that thirty-eight-year-old Korvi Rakshand has taken up. He led a privileged, socially sheltered life, earned a law degree from the University of London, and seemed destined for a lucrative career in law or business, when he had a life-changing moment. Exploring a country he had not quite seen up close, he came upon a group of children scavenging for scraps in a dump. He spent some time playing with them, shared food out of empathy, and as he was walking away, a little girl approached him and asked him to take her home with him since she had none. This shocked him and left him feeling so helpless and guilty, he soon made up his mind about what he really wanted to do with his life.
He convinced six friends to join him in a project to teach English to poor children so they will have the chance to get jobs in Dhaka’s growing industry. With a rented room in the Rayer Bazar slums of Dhaka, furnished with nothing but a carpet, plus a whiteboard and marker, they taught their first set of seventeen students. Thus began JAAGO Foundation (the Bangla word means “wake up”), a non-profit organization established in 2007 that aimed to address problems of access and quality education for underprivileged children.
From such small beginnings, it has grown into one of the largest, most dynamic non-profit organizations in its field in Bangladesh. With education as its core program, it provides free of cost, government-recognized English-language primary and secondary education to underprivileged children through eleven traditional and online schools in ten districts of Bangladesh. Students are provided free uniforms and school supplies, food, personal hygiene items, health check-ups, and medicines. Located in rural areas, its online schools operate in the same way as traditional schools except that teachers deliver lectures from the JAAGO’s teachers’ center in Dhaka, using video conferencing technology. Students watch on big screens and interact with the teachers. Trained facilitators are present onsite to assist and monitor the students. JAAGO is pioneering in exploiting technology to address problems of access in hard to reach areas and the shortage of qualified teachers. Starting from that one classroom with seventeen students, JAAGO now has 206 classrooms and has reached 30,000 students.
JAAGO’s success and rising reputation as a change maker have enabled its expansion into other engagements. A major initiative is its Volunteer for Bangladesh (VBD) program, established in 2011. It seeks to involve the youth in positive social change through capacity building, youth led community participatory campaigns, mobilization for humanitarian assistance to build a skilled Bangladesh. This has stoked such wide enthusiasm that VBD is now a movement of 50,000 youth leaders. JAAGO’s programs have evolved into other themes, such as women empowerment and children’s rights, climate change, democracy & governance.
Illustrations of its dynamism is that it has set up a “Safe Haven Project” that supports the physical and mental well-being of the children of Rohingya refugees from Myanmar in the sprawling Cox’s Bazar camp in Bangladesh.
The driving force behind all these is Korvi Rakshand, whose innovative, enterprising, and bold leadership has enabled JAAGO to build a network of support from donors, sponsors, and partners in government and the private sector, in Bangladesh and abroad, and more importantly, the popular participation of Bangladeshis themselves in their country’s social transformation. Venturing outside of his sheltered background, Rakshand started his journey by saying to himself, “Wake up!”—and, in the process of truly seeing—has awakened others as well. He said, “We wanted to start a movement. We were young, we were activists. It was a movement of young people. We said, ‘Wake up, it’s time to wake up. Not from your dreams but from (within) your heart.’”
In electing Korvi Rakshand to receive the 2023 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Emergent Leadership, the board of trustees recognizes his determined spirit and quiet courage in turning away from a secure life to a more demanding one of working for the underprivileged; his strong, visionary leadership in democratizing education and inspiring thousands of young people to heed the call of social transformation, and for thus demonstrating how the young can be not just the bearers of the promise of the nation, but its realization.
Today I am truly honored to stand before you and be awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Emergent Leader for our collective efforts of JAAGO Foundation and Volunteer for Bangladesh.
Before I talk about my work, I must share the story of how I got to know that I was selected for this Award. I was travelling with my colleagues and suddenly received a message from Susan Afan. “Good Morning Korvi, this is Susan from Manila, Philippines. May I call you? My reply was, sure, you can. I didn’t realize it was a video call and I received it. When she said she was calling from Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation, I was pretty sure that she would ask me about someone’s work, doing their background checking. I had no idea that she would end up congratulating me. Once again, thank you for recognizing our work.
Children are the future of a nation and youth is the power. The journey of JAAGO started with 17 children, a whiteboard, a piece of carpet and a room full of hope. I still remember the first day, when I asked the children, what do you want to be when you grow up. One student said, Rikshaw Puller, another said Tuk Tuk Driver, their biggest dream was to become a driver of a Yellow cab. The same children, after receiving quality education, now dreams of becoming pilot, engineer and doctor. Actually, one of the students who wanted to become a pilot now dreams of making planes. This is the power of education.
When we went to the rural parts of Bangladesh and opened schools there, we realised that it’s hard to find quality teachers. But why will distance be a barrier between education and children? We launched our Digital School Program, where teachers from Dhaka can teach students in the most remote parts of Bangladesh using a video conferencing platform. Today, these students from the slums are not only studying in universities in Bangladesh but all around the world. Despite their background, an opportunity like education can change the lives of thousands of children, whether in Bangladesh, Philippines or Asia.
As I mentioned before, youth is the power, Bangladesh and Philippines both have one thing in common. In both countries, the population of youth is around 30%. Through Volunteer for Bangladesh, we were able to bring like-minded youth to come together and volunteer for the causes they believe in. Every year more than 50,000 volunteers actively participate in various Sustainable Development Goals to achieve the mission of United Nation to have a better world. Imagine, if we can have a Volunteer for Philippines Program where young people can come together, discuss their ideas and take action to make Philippines even better. Imagine, if all the Islands in Philippines had Digital Schools where every child could go to school and have a better future. Now imagine the same in every country in Asia. Let’s join hands together and promise to stand beside the people of our countries, Asia and Humanity. Together, let’s make this a better place for you, me and the future generation.
To celebrate this achievement, today I have my family with me. My Parents, wife, sister, in-laws and friends. I would like to thank the people back at home, my JAAGO family of 600 colleagues, 50,000 volunteers, my students, child sponsors, corporate partners and supporters. without whom I wouldn’t be able to achieve this. I wish they were with me but to represent the JAAGO Team, I have a few of my colleagues from Bangladesh. I would like to request them to stand up. Thank you for what you are doing every day.
Being a Bangladeshi, I would like to end my speech in Bangla: Bangladesher jonogon er pokkho theke, Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation o Philippines er nagorik er oshonkho dhonnobaad. Thank You.