BY: KASSANDRA DZIKEWICZ
As climate change escalates, places like Bangladesh are in serious trouble. With 1,174 people per square kilometre – Bangladesh’s population density is the highest on a global scale. The rising sea levels are causing floods, destroying communities, and making rebuilding rather difficult – leaving many people in trouble.
A non-profit organization called Shidhulai Swanirvar Sangstha has come up with a clever way to rebuild communities while preventing them from being destroyed by future flooding.
Shidhulai has transformed boats into schools, taking these flooded areas and providing the community with the opportunity to rebuild itself. There are a total of 111 schools, libraries, healthcare and training centres built on boats.
There are a total of 111 schools, libraries, healthcare and training centres built on boats.
The boat doubles as a school and as transportation. The day starts with the boat picking up the kids for school, and once the boat docks the learning begins. Thirty students attend each school where they are supplied with electronic resources and hundreds of books. Some of the schools even have a playground on the upper level. At school the children learn a curriculum that incorporates the knowledge of environmental protection and water conservation.
Thirty students attend each school where they are supplied with electronic resources and hundreds of books.
At school the children learn a curriculum that incorporates the knowledge of environmental protection and water conservation.
These boats are innovative and sustainable with solar panels on top of the boats to power the schools’ lights and computers.
The executive director of Shidhulai Swanirvar Sangstha, Mohammed Rezwan, is from the area and understands the difficulty the students face during monsoon season. He has witnessed first-hand how impossible it is to access the roads during this time, let alone make the journey to school. “It is common to see school dropouts in this region. It was difficult for me to accept the situation. I thought that if the children cannot come to the school for lack of proper transportation, then the school should come to them, by boat.”
With his knowledge of architecture and construction, Rezwan has succeeded in keeping the children of Bangladesh educated, despite the unpredictable and treacherous effects of climate change.
Sources: shidhulai.org
