::: Star Insight :::

Behind the scenes
From Jhenidah

For the lack of a wheel chair

A wheelchair is all that Sajib Mollah needs to overcome his disability and attend school on a regular basis. Alas! For his family's overshadowing poverty, affording a wheelchair is not an option. With five mouths to feed daily, his hawker father and housemaid mother find it more than difficult to put food on the table everyday. It remains Sajib's dream to one day become self reliant and break away from the bonds of being dependant.

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Azibor Rahman

Sajib Mollah, a 13 year old boy from Shibnagar village under Kaliganj Upazila, is disabled who uses crutches with extreme difficulty to move from one place to another. His father Nasir Mollah is a hawker and mother Anjura Begum works as a housemaid. The limited incomes of the two parents make it extremely hard for the family to even provide food for five, let alone their education. His elder brother Arif Hossain is unemployed, while his younger brother Rakib Hossain is a grade two student in Arpara primary school in the Upazila.

Sajib's condition does not allow him to fare great distances. The grade seven student needs to hire a rickshaw every time he needs to attend classes at the Naldanga Bhusan pilot secondary school, which is two kilometers away from his house. The daily fare amounts to Tk 30, which is quite impossible for his family to afford. Nasir earns Tk 100 every day or Tk 150 if business is really good. Supporting the family on this near non existent income is virtually impossible, let alone taking up the extra burden of the rickshaw fare for Sajib. He thusly is able to attend school twice a week only. But things would be different if he only had a wheelchair.

13 year old Sajib Mollah

Both the parents say that Sajib is very much inclined towards getting an education. But getting him to-and-from school is impossible for their limited-near-non-existent income. Because of his condition, he cannot use the crutches for a long period of time, or else he could have traveled the distance everyday on his own. The only inexpensive way to remedy his situation and provide some ease to his mishap would be a wheelchair. But that too is too expensive for the family to afford.

Sajib told Star Insight that he would do nearly anything just to be able to continue his education. His disability has made him even more determined to become self reliant through achieving an education. He says that he is even ready to beg, just so that he can continue with his studies. On one bright note, he does not need to pay tuitions for which he is very grateful to his class teacher Ajoy Kumar.