School closures hit Bangladesh s indigenous children
Very popular in rural communities, the church-run schools provided free education for extremely poor students
Indigenous children play in the grounds of St. Don Bosco Primary School in Rajshahi district of Bangladesh in this file photo. In 2015, Catholic authorities closed eight schools including St. Don Bosco that taught poor indigenous children. (Photo: Stephan Uttom/UCA News)
Five years after Rajshahi Diocese, northwest of Bangladeshi capital Dhaka, closed down eight schools for lack of funds, hundreds of poor children lacking other educational opportunities have become daily wage workers.
Ajoy Soren, one of the affected students, studied up to grade four at St. Siro Primary School until it was shut down in 2015. The 16-year-old is now a day laborer.