Students took to the streets to protest against a quota system for awarding coveted government jobs. The protests turned violent, cars and houses were set on fire and the police began firing live ammunition at the demonstrators instead of water cannons. Eventually, the quota rule was suspended.
After the quota system was successfully prevented, the protests spread further and were now aimed at toppling the government. On August 5, the long-serving prime minister announced her resignation and fled to India. During the weeks of protests, thousands of people were injured and a large number of people died.
Just a few days later, a transitional government led by Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus was sworn in. Yunus was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 together with the Grameen Bank, which he founded. The coming weeks and months will show how well this transitional government will manage to restore peace and security in the country.
Like all educational institutions in Bangladesh, our school projects and the training center were closed for several weeks during the most violent phase of the protests. Curfews made it impossible to operate. As during the pandemic, the lockdown posed major challenges for the families of our students, as most parents are dependent on their jobs as day laborers to feed their families. To counteract this problem, we provided our students’ families with emergency food parcels based on a tried and tested model.
We are in close contact with our project managers on site to ensure that the pupils and staff receive the best possible support. Now, in the second half of August, they have reopened and the pupils are returning to their places.
