Some of them either work as day laborers or in any workshop and some of them have been forced to choose to beg as sources of living. It’s quite unthinkable to working-class people that how the childhood of disadvantaged children are getting lost in hardship, though it's been a common scene in different parts of the country. The childhood scenarios of the children of Boroitola in Shampur Rail station are no different. While the growing up children at the railway station is struggling hard to fulfill their basic needs like food, having education opportunity is like a daydream for them. The children cannot enjoy access to free primary education while taking the burden of families in financial crisis, though the Bangladesh government has been working to secure free primary education for all children. Furthermore, the ongoing pandemic has resulted in the worst of their life. The children who used to go to school earlier have also lost their interest in learning because of the long-term closure of all educational institutions as a health safety measure. The situation has resulted in increased exposure of those children to criminal offenses. They are easily getting involved with various offensive actions and losing moral values. Considering the above-mentioned scenario, the youth school has been established as an immediate response to the degraded situation. The school has been established with the purpose of facilitating free education for the children. Akram Hossain is the visionary of the school who is also the founder of a voluntary organization called the youth movement. He and members of his organization have been working for social welfare through providing care and developing social values among disadvantaged children. The youth school has been the concrete and well-constructed outcome of their initiatives. Based on the various information and survey reports, the youth school started its journey in November 2020 from the Railway station of Boroitola in Shapur. The school has been initiated with 50 students and 8 voluntary teachers with the purpose of providing free education as well as supporting the physical and intellectual growth of the children. The school has no permanent building therefore the open sky has been the rooftop for the children. All the children will be well-educated if the dreams are fulfilled. On a small scale, currently, there are 120+ students in the school, and 20+ youth volunteer to provide lessons. The volunteers don’t take any fee/salary for providing lessons. Ignoring all the comfort and rough weather, volunteers come to provide lessons every day for the children in order to prepare them as an ideal human being. The school cannot be compared with any other schools because of its unique manner of providing lessons. Though the school doesn’t take any fee from the children, they are required to perform and show good action in exchange for the lessons. They have been provided a diary/notebook where they have been asked every day to perform and write a good action as homework. When they'll show their diary and good action, they will be provided lessons on that day. There is a facility to take breakfast together in order to promote integrity and unity among the children. Another reason for providing a breakfast facility is to ensure that no children are hungry or missed any meal because some of the children come to school without taking breakfast. The importance of discipline is essential to develop a child as an ideal citizen. Therefore, the students of the Youth School are made to take an oath every morning before the commencement of the lesson to be always engaged in the service of the society and the country. In addition to regular physical activity, monthly sports and various competitions are also organized for their physical development, so that they can grow in a healthy body. There is no alternative to religious and moral education for the development of intellectual and positive mental capacity. The youth school, therefore, conducts regular Qur'an recitations as well as weekly religious discussions with them, so that these children have enough values and principles to grow up. Besides, the teachers are always dedicated to ensuring humanistic development and critical thinking skills of the children through various cultural activities like painting and games. Although the youth school now provides pre-primary education to the students, the youth school is working for the purpose of providing minimum education to the students who have never been able to go to school. Moreover, this school has also taken the responsibility so that the students here get formal education. The youth school aims to ensure no children of the country are deprived of the light of education due to scarcity. Gradually the blooming youth schools spread their branches across the country, determined to give the nation a bunch of well-educated children and adolescents with human values.
