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Emerging from dark

Emergers, a trust, heads off dropouts of economically vulnerable, yet promising students by collecting door-to-door donations for them

ASHFAQ WARES KHAN
Sitting on one side of a kerosenelamp lit tiny desk that she shares with her younger brother and sister, Shilpi takes a moment and counts her chances of passing her HSC exams.
Despite a chronic heart ailment and her parents' inability to
cover college fees that arrested her steps through the exhaustive journey of college education, a push of encouragement and a little monetary shove have meant that her chances of scoring Bs are no longer slim.
The encouragement and money for Shilpi came from a group of five young professionals who initiated a trust, The
Emergers, to prevent dropouts of economically vulnerable and promising students by collecting door-to-door donations from sources as varied as housewives to scientists overseas.
Like Shilpi, thousands of youths each year follow the gener
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ations-old pattern of failing to pursue higher education because of economic hardship, social handicap or lack of guidance.
The dropout rate is one of the highest and least visible in colleges, as the toll of college and private tuition fees, and additional academic pressure overwhelm economically vulnerable families who sometimes rely on income generated by their college-going children.
"I couldn't take part in last year's preparatory exams for HSC because I was sick. And even when the next exams came up, my parents couldn't pay the fees. I was confused about what my future holds," Shilpi recalls.
Shilpi broke confusion, and with it, the pattern of failing to pursue her education because of her inclusion into the support programme run by The Emergers at her educational institution -- Savar College.
The Emergers provided Tk 3,000 for Shilpi through her college principal, referred her to a cardiologist and sent her to college teachers who provided nine other Emergers fund recipients at Savar College with group tuition.
"I was weak in English, so they found an English tutor for me and I receive support from other tutors who are helping me catch up with in subjects that I had fallen behind because of my illness," says Shilpi, her eyes beaming with hope.
Initiated at Savar College in 2001, the Emergers fund set out two core principles in its acceptance criteria posted on notice boards: the applicants must prove their financial insolvency adversely affected their pursuit of higher education and the students must also prove they are studious and dedicated to education.
Unsurprisingly, applications for the Emergers fund flooded the college principal's office. The appli-
cants were then interviewed and their houses visited to survey their economic vulnerability and only then the students were selected.
The trustees insist that the support is not money-driven since the organisation gives the money to educational institutions largely to cover entry fees and exam fees. It stresses the importance of "connecting people in education," that links the fund beneficiaries to older students, teachers and professionals to receive advice, tuition and guidance in education and life.
Donors often volunteer to run tutorials and training in their own fields such as IT (information technology) or maths at the Emergers' office.
"We want to break the economic burden on insolvent students by reducing the cost they have to fork out for private tutors every month," says Kali Prasanna Das, a teacher and a founder-trustee of The Emergers.
This process, mainly because of an increase in donors, has been rerun throughout Emergers' operations in six other educational institutions since 2001: Mirzapur College, Bajitpur College, Dhaka University, Dhaka College and Eden College.
Although the organisation has expanded its operations, the trustees remain frustrated from their inability to satisfy the demand for the fund not only in their partner educational institutions but from students all across the country.
"It is frustrating to see so many students still requiring assistance, but we are all professionals in our own field and cannot cope with the extra administrative and monitoring pressures that accompany greater donations and more students," says Kazi Mizanur Rahman, a lawyer, and founder-trustee of The Emergers.