Presented by: Nurjahan Begum Managing Director Grameen Shikkha And Former Acting Managing Director, Grameen Bank

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1 Empowering the Children of Microentrepreneurs with Primary and Secondary Education, College Scholarships and Loans, and Financial Services for Their Businesses Presented by: Nurjahan Begum Managing Director Grameen Shikkha And Former Acting Managing Director, Grameen Bank

2 Education and Poverty Reduction For most poor people, education is one of the most important weapons, like microcredit, to fight poverty. Education not only equips the poor with necessary skills to overcome poverty, it also broadens their views about life and allows them to realize the broader social perspective in which they live.

3 Grameen and Education for the Poor Soon after Grameen started its microcredit activities it made it mandatory for its borrowers to learn to sign their names and itself took the responsibility of teaching it. For a poor illiterate woman who had never held a pen in her hand, this knowledge of how to sign her name on official papers was a tremendous boost in her own confidence and personal development, which she carried throughout her life. Counting money, maintaining bank passbooks etc. increased her knowledge and self-confidence in undertaking income generating activities of her own. It also encouraged her to ensure education for her children. Children in Grameen families have always proved to be better educated than others.

4 Grameen Efforts in Child Education In the 1980s Grameen Bank started a center school program to prepare its borrowers children for primary school. Borrowers opened child-welfare funds at their centers to pay for expenses of these schools. The program was expanded in many areas of the country, benefiting thousands of children every year. As the program expended, necessity for a special institution to deal with education was felt.

5 Foundation of Grameen Shikkha In 1997 Professor Yunus established Grameen Shikkha (Education). Its objectives were: To promote mass education through formal and non-formal methods. To organize facilities for education and training. To promote new and appropriate technologies such as satellite, Internet, distance learning methods etc. as well as innovate ideas and methods for development of education. To conduct research and undertake experimentation in the field of education.

6 Life Oriented Education Program This was a one-year basic literacy program for illiterate Grameen Bank women borrowers and their teenage daughters, providing reading, writing, calculation and life oriented skills to its beneficiaries. Vocational training was also provided to some of them.

7 Early Childhood Development (ECD) Program Grameen Shikkha started this program in This program comprised pre-schools, ECD advocacy and ECD care giving training. By 2010, Shikkha had trained more than 100,000 students at its preschools. All of them were registered in primary school. Another 13,000 are receiving training in 2011.

8 ECD Program... Besides pre-academics, the pre-school curriculum includes activities for cognitive, language, social, emotional and self-actualization development through different physical and psychological stimulations like play, rhymes, singing etc.

9 Grameen Shikkha Scholarship Management Program In 2003 Grameen Shikkha started a scholarship management program to provide financial support to poor meritorious students especially in rural areas of Bangladesh on lifelong basis (until completion of studies).

10 How to Sponsor A Student By entrusting an amount of Tk. 100,000 (US$1,500) or its multiple with Grameen Shikkha, any individual or institution may start a scholarship of 500 taka or its multiple per month for a poor student. The deposit is invested by GS and scholarship is provided out of its income, keeping the deposit intact. The sponsor may also start a scholarship program by donating only the scholarship money plus a service charge to Shikkha. Every scholarship program has a name as given by the sponsor and is conducted anywhere and at any educational institution in Bangladesh as chosen by the sponsor. Students are selected, according to criteria set by sponsor, from poor background and with good academic performance. When a scholar finishes his/her studies, a new student replaces him/her.

11 How SMP is Managed GS takes full responsibility of management of the scholarship. It selects students for sponsors and sends scholarship money to the students through account transfer. It follows up students academic progress and informs sponsors about scholar s progress at least once a year. Publishes news on the program in its own publications and web site.

12 GS Scholarship Program... Students receive scholarship money from their local bank branch through account transfer. More than 3,200 students from primary to university level have so far been given support. More than half of the scholars are girls. Nobel Laureate and Grameen Shikkha Chairman Prof. Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Shikkha Managing Director Ms. Nurjahan Begum with some GS scholars

13 GS Scholarship Program... Currently, 520 students at undergraduate and post graduate level are receiving scholarship from Grameen Shikkha. Subject wise distribution of these scholars is given below: Medical Engineering Business Others Total Girl Boy Maximum amount for a higher education scholarship is 5, taka per month. A higher education scholar receives a maximum of 5, taka per month as scholarship.

14 Non-formal Primary Schools for Slum Children In 2005 Grameen Shikkha started a nonformal primary school program for slum children in Dhaka. Organized in one-room schools, these schools provide basic literacy competencies to about 600 slum children (20 schools each with 30 students) in Dhaka over a period of five years. Students receive lessons in native language, simple English and math, environment and social responsibilities.

15 Vocational Training Program Since 2008 GS has been conducting a vocational training program for poor school-dropout young men and women with the objective of assisting them find self and wage employment through vocational skills.

16 Vocational... Funded by C&A Europe, this center provides training on trades like industrial sewing, garment machine mechanics, electrical & electronic control, electronics & telecommunications, computer applications, mobile phone servicing, solar home system management etc. and has so far trained about 1,500 young men and women. Shikkha has also trained workers of Grameen Shamogree (Products) and Grameen Shakti (Energy) and conducted temporary training centers in some areas of Bangladesh.

17 GS VTP : An Update Trade wise graduation as on September 2011: Boy Girl Total Electrical & electronic control Elec. house wiring/fan motor rewinding Electronics Industrial sewing Dressmaking & tailoring Solar Mobile phone servicing Garment machine mechanics Computer applications & Internet Computer hardware Graphics Total: 1, ,536

18 Higher Education Loan Program of Grameen Bank In 1997 Grameen Bank started a Higher Education Loan Program for its borrowers children on very easy terms: no interest during studies, repayment in small installments after completion of studies, and only 5% interest charged after completion of studies. Till September 2011, a total of 49,459 students were given $35.52 million under this loan. Of these students, 11,289 were girls.

19 Grameen Bank Scholarship Program Grameen Bank also has a scholarship program for its borrowers children. Every year nearly 27 thousand scholarships are disbursed. 50% of these scholarships are reserved for girls. Till September 2011, a total of 132,978 students received $3.00 million as scholarship. 77,463 of these scholars were girls.

20 Foreign Scholarship for Grameen Bank Borrowers Children Grameen Bank is also arranging scholarships for its borrowers children to study abroad and has developed cooperation with some international institutions / universities like: Ewha Women University, Seoul. Asian University for Women, Bangladesh. Yayasan Khazanah Foundation, Malaysia. More than 40 students are now studying abroad with full scholarship. Professor Muhammad Yunus with Grameen scholars studying abroad

21 New Entrepreneur Loan for Grameen Bank Children To facilitate self-employment of Grameen borrowers children who have completed higher education, Grameen Bank also started this loan scheme. Motto behind this loan program is self-employment: We will never ask anyone for a job; we will rather create job for others. Till September 2011 more than $1.00 million was disbursed under this program.

22 New Entrepreneur Loan... Beneficiaries may take loans for any income generational work. Some of schemes under this program are setting up of education center, computer center, mobile phone sales and service center, pharmacy, departmental store, cattle farm, apiculture, fish and shrimp cultivation, sewing machine, poultry feed etc.

23 Conclusion In a poor country like Bangladesh, higher education is often a mere dream for a poor child. But Grameen has not only made this dream a reality for thousands of poor children, it has also added new dimensions to its education program through education loans and arranging of scholarships at renowned universities abroad. Grameen s education program is helping thousands of poor students in enlightening their lives and removing illiteracy and poverty from the lives from the lives of themselves and their families.

24 Thank You for Your Kind Attention