VABC is a brainchild of a Bangladeshi Canadian anthropologist and educationist, Pamelia Khaled. This is a chapter organization of the Volunteers Association for Bangladesh (VAB), which was founded in 1988 by a philanthropist and expatriate Bangladeshi in the U.S.A., Dr. Abu Tayeb Rafiqur Rahman and registered in Bangladesh in 2000. This Canadian chapter, VABC was registered on May 9, 2012 in Toronto, Canada, under the leadership of Pamelia Khaled in association with like-minded individuals concerned for the education needs of children in Bangladesh.
A brief background of inception of Volunteers Association for Bangladesh Canada
My interest in human development in Bangladesh attracted me to VAB. My fieldwork with the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC) Education Programme in 2009 exposed me to the diverse challenges of both quality and equity in the education system of Bangladesh. During my internship with BRAC Education department, I gathered a wealth of information on issues relating to quality and access to education in both the government primary education and BRAC education systems there. Upon learning about its various programs in rural Bangladesh, especially the promotion of quality education and teacher development, my interest in VAB activities began to grow.
Motivated by VAB’s accomplishments in educational development in Bangladesh, I initiated the Canadian chapter of VAB with the same objectives. The Canadian Chapter of Volunteers Association for Bangladesh (VAB-C) was founded on May 9, 2012 in Toronto, Canada, under my leadership in collaboration with like-minded Bangladeshi Canadian professionals who are concerned about Bangladesh’s educational progress. VAB-C is also committed to supporting the primary and secondary education of disadvantaged students, facilitating the professional development of teachers and reducing social and economic disparities. It is my hope that the success of the “high quality” brand in VAB schools will benefit generations of students and will create a self-propelling force for schools to continue with the brand on their own. Though VABC is my brain child, however, to foster this young organization requires collaboration: solidarity and assistance from individual, groups, different communities and institutions.
As a Chapter, VAB-C is working hard with the parent organization. It fully complies with all the guidelines and directives of the parent organization which has been working for twelve years with the rural schools in Bangladesh. VAB- USA has also undertaken extensive discussions with headmasters, teachers and management committee members of the schools to arrive at strategies for the most effective utilization of the VAB resources.
VABC is particularly interested in five central aspects that should form a part of such a systemic overhaul:
- Student’s Empowerment in education
- Student Empowerment in Health
- Teacher Empowerment
- School Empowerment
- Community Linkage Empowerment
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The Financial Express