The Volunteers Association for Bangladesh (VAB, pronounced VaaB – meaning “idea” or “feeling” in Bengali) aims at empowering poor children of rural Bangladesh to have a brighter future. VAB helps them gain quality high school education and vocational skills training.

Since its establishment in 1998, VAB has helped more than 300,000 young men and women and their families in rural areas of Bangladesh. VAB’s mission is now moving forward with greater strength and higher hopes.

It was only last year that, for the first time, students (three) from VAB schools competed at the National level. This year, there are ten students from VAB schools who will compete - there are four girls and six boys among the ten students. The Olympiad is held in four categories – primary, junior, secondary and higher secondary. VAB schools go up to the secondary level only; the ten students belong to all the other three categories - two in primary category, six in junior and two in secondary.

As part of its STEM Learning Program, VAB has recently introduced an activity of encouraging, familiarizing, and most importantly, mentoring students of rural schools to participate in the Math Olympiad. The Bangladesh Math Olympiad Committee has been generous to send volunteer Mentors to assist the underprivileged rural students.The Math Olympiad is taken to be a test of students’ analytical skills and thus, is expected to yield a true measure of learning of Mathematics by students. This contrasts radically with the conventional public exams and their results.

We at VAB are extending our best wishes to the ten students for doing well at the National competition, and invite all to encourage and support them.

On March 20, 2021, VAB held Final of its English Proficiency Competition among 15 participants from eleven schools in five different districts of Bangladesh. The contestants were finalists from the English Conversation Program among 25 schools from the same districts. Both these Competitions are parts of the VAB English Skill Enhancement Program intended to improve English language skills of rural boys and girls of Bangladesh who have been alarmingly deficient in these skills. This deficiency not only harms career potentials of rural youths, it also gives rise to an urban-rural divide in opportunities for better life.

The Competition held on Zoom covered three topics: Recitation, Public Speech and Advanced Vocabulary. The poem chosen for recitation was Tyger by William Blake. The students chose different topics for public speech with the theme: “If I had the power …” Advanced vocabulary involved making new words with suffixes and prefixes.

It was the final program of VAB in celebration of the Birth Centenary of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, father of the nation.

The students performed with eagerness and passion in presence of the virtual audience. Two girls, Nishat Tasnim Dihan and Sadia Anjum Pushpa, both from Bhangura Jarina Rahim Girls’ High School of Bhangura became joint first securing 89.4% marks while Apple Mamud of Nageshwari D. M. Academy securing 87.5% marks  was in the third position.

Two of the judges were members of the VAB Board of Advisers and one a retired English teacher of D. M. Academy.

Participants included teachers, Headmasters and guests from New York and Melbourne, Australia.

At the end of the event, Dr. Mushfique Rahman of Melbourne, renowned expert in the field, and the judges applauded the performance of the contestants and advised them to be steadfast in practicing English.

It is with great honor and pride that we announce that Marquis Who's Who, the world's premier publisher of biographical profiles, has just presented A T Rafiqur Rahman, PhD, with the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award, for his “achievements, leadership qualities, and the credentials and successes he has accrued in his field”.

Quality education for the underprivileged in rural Bangladesh.

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