RU’s Ichhe School-a ray of hope for street children

“After completing my education, I want to be a doctor,” said nine-year-old Mozammel Ovi, a street child. There are hundreds of others like him—children with similar dreams who are deprived of their basic and educational needs. The ‘Ichhe School’ on the Rajshahi University (RU) campus has brought a ray of light into the lives of such children, giving them the opportunity to fulfil their dreams of being great citizens in the future.
Dedicated to the service of humanity, about 100 students of different departments of RU have established the ‘Ichhe School’ for street children—a totally voluntary organisation. They started out on February 14, 2012, with 30 children in a room in the quarters of an RU staff member. At present, some 60 street children are availing of free education at the school. The classes remain open six days a week, from 4pm to 6pm, with a weekly holiday on Fridays.
All the expenses are borne by the RU students, while the university administration has contributed to the initiative by giving them the room for free.
Since its inauguration, the school and its organisers have been reaching out to underprivileged people and street children, even with financial help. As they have no fixed source of financial support to run the operations smoothly, they gather funds via various paths, such as selling flowers and cakes (pitha) on campus on occasions like Pahela Boishakh, Victory Day, National Independence Day and Valentine’s Day. Another source of funds is the sales of various job-oriented books and newspapers such as ‘Current Affairs’, ‘Chakrir Khobor’ and ‘Current World’ to the students.
Selim Reza, a founder member, said: "We got the inspiration to set up this organisation from a seven-year-old street boy on the campus. He was very keen to study, but his poor family could not afford it."
“We had to go from door to door to convince underprivileged families to send their children to the school, which was quite difficult. Some families refused as they wanted their children to continue begging rather than send them to schools."

RUs Ichhe School-a ray of hope for street children

After completing my education, I want to be a doctor, said nine-year-old Mozammel Ovi, a street child. There are hundreds of others like himchildren with similar dreams who are deprived of their basic and educational needs. The Ichhe School on the Rajshahi University (RU) campus has brought a ray of light into the lives of such children, giving them the opportunity to fulfil their dreams of being great citizens in the future. Dedicated to the service of humanity, about 100 students of different departments of RU have established the Ichhe School for street childrena totally voluntary organisation. They started out on February 14, 2012, with 30 children in a room in the quarters of an RU staff member. At present, some 60 street children are availing of free education at the school. The classes remain open six days a week, from 4pm to 6pm, with a weekly holiday on Fridays. All the expenses are borne by the RU students, while the university administration has contributed to the initiative by giving them the room for free. Since its inauguration, the school and its organisers have been reaching out to underprivileged people and street children, even with financial help. As they have no fixed source of financial support to run the operations smoothly, they gather funds via various paths, such as selling flowers and cakes (pitha) on campus on occasions like Pahela Boishakh, Victory Day, National Independence Day and Valentines Day. Another source of funds is the sales of various job-oriented books and newspapers such as Current Affairs, Chakrir Khobor and Current World to the students. Selim Reza, a founder member, said: We got the inspiration to set up this organisation from a seven-year-old street boy on the campus. He was very keen to study, but his poor family could not afford it. We had to go from door to door to convince underprivileged families to send their children to the school, which was quite difficult. Some families refused as they wanted their children to continue begging rather than send them to schools.