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Para Kendra a ray of hope for hill children, women

Nur Uddin Alamgir
The underprivileged children and women of tribal communities have started to reap the benefits of Para Kendra (centre) in the remote hilly areas of Rangarnati, Khagrachhari and Bandarban.
Para Kendra is the local pre-school education and healthcare centres set up under the Integrated Community Development Project (ICDP) in Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT).
Set up under the joint initiative of Chittagong Hill Tracts Development Board and the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (Unicef), the Para Kendras are playing significant role in improving education and healthcare services in remote hilly areas.
Mothers reading book to their children or teaching them the basic skills before enrolling them in primary school is a rare scene where poor rate of literacy and malnutrition among children were prevalent and maternal health was neglected.
The scenario, however, is changing there as the children aged between three to six are receiving pre-school education at Para Kendras under the supervision of a woman of their community.
Mothers of these kids are also learning about healthcare, nutrition as well as water and sanitation issues at the centres.
In addition to preschool education and healthcare, the centres also motivate the children to attend classes distributing micronutrient biscuits provided by the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP). The biscuits not only encourage the children to attend classes but also help improve their nutritional status and capacity to concentrate.
While visiting a Para Kendra at Golachhara, around 14 kilometres from the Rangarnati town, Para Karmi (worker) Swapna Debi Chakma was seen
teaching the children.
She was giving lessons to 17 pupils, including 12 girls. They sang songs in Bangla and Chakma.
Earlier a delegation of Bhutan visited the area to have an idea and gather experience on the preschool education.
Swapna said she has faced difficulties to control and give lessons to the children at the preliminary stage but now they become accustomed gradually with the activities of the Kendra and aware of the benefits of attending the classes.
The local Union Parishad Chairman Arun Kanti Chakma said there are four Para Kendras in his union.
He said parents are happy to send their children to the Para Kendras as it makes easier for them to get enrolled in primary schools. The dropout rate is decreasing gradually at the primary schools following the programme.
Sonam Tsherins, Chief
Programme Officer of Non-formal and Continuing Education Division of Education Ministry of Bhutan, told The daily Star that the programme can be introduced in their country to reduce dropout at the primary school level.
He said, “I think it is playing a significant role in the life of the tribal people of the remote hilly areas and we want to utilise the knowledge gathered from them.’’ Same scenario was also seen at Moshmara Para Kendra, around seven kilometres off the town, where children were playing display on hygiene as per instruction of Shefali Chakma, a Para Kendra worker.
Of 2,520 Para Kendras, 962 are in Rangarnati, 668 in Bandarban and 890 in Khagrachhari. Unicef and ICDP have plan to establish 3,500 Kendras to cover all paras in the hill districts, said Unicef Chittagong Hill Tracts Region Programme
Officer Mong Yai.
Para Kendras are becoming the focal point of all development activities offering preschool education, parenting education on early childhood development, demonstration on gardening, information about low cost hygienic latrines and safe drinking water, vitamin A capsules for lactating women and fortified biscuits for children attending preschools, Mong said.
Construction of most of the Para Kendras are borne by the community providing land, labour and locally available materials. Ninety-five percent of the Para workers are women and get Tk 1,500 a month as remuneration, he added.
A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between government and the Unicef on July 11,1980 in order to improve socioeconomic condition of tribal people especially the women and children.