Bijoy Rudra Paul had a dream that no child in the tea estate under Juri upazila in Moulvibazar would be deprived of education.

His mother is a worker in a tea garden and his father a bicycle mechanic.

Realising such a dream was next to impossible for a poor chap like him who could not even sit for his SSC exams, failing to pay the registration fee.

Economic hardship persisted in his family but he did not relent. After over a decade's hard work, his dream came true, and now children in his community have a school to attend.

While talking to this correspondent recently, Bijoy narrated his story, "I don't want to see anybody quit their studies because of poverty. I missed my SSC exams in 2000 for lack of money. I had to work hard for two years after that to save enough money for the exam fees."

That, however, was just the beginning. When time for his HSC enrolment came, he had to wait four more years as the family was going through extreme poverty.

In the meantime, he worked in a tea garden with his mother as well as helping his father repair bicycles.

He passed his HSC in 2008 and enrolled in a degree programme the next year.

His mother Sheela Rani Paul works in a tea garden for eight hours a day and her daily wage is Tk 69. In 2000, when he was supposed to sit his SSC exams, her daily pay was Tk 22. His father Dukhia Rudra Paul, too, earns only a little.

The family lives in a slum of Dhamai tea estate. His mother continues working there despite the poor pay; otherwise they would lose their place in that slum.

When he recollected the days of his privations, his voice became emotion-choked and his eyes were wet.

"Most of the days we did not even have three meals a day," he said. 

While a student in his degree studies, he got a government job that gave him the strength to pursue his dream.

"I was qualified for the job without any lobbying or any bribe," he said about the job. "On November 15, 2009, I joined the land office as a Mutation cum Certificate Assistant with a salary of Tk 6,700, which is now Tk 11,265."

During this time, he also continued giving tuition to students.

It was then he started working towards his school for the underprivileged children of tea garden workers in his upazila. Finally he set up the Chhota Dhamai Ideal Academy on January 1, 2011 in a building used by the Monipuris for making handloom products.

Currently 60 children are studying at the school run by his organisation Swapnakuri Samaj Kalyan Sangstha.

Bijoy spends most of his income over their education. To encourage them further, he has introduced a scholarship programme after his mother's name, "Sheela Merit Stipends" for meritorious students of class five in the upazila. This year he plans to provide awards to class eight students too.

He also awarded 218 students who secured A+ in the JSC, SSC and HSC exams from all the 92 tea gardens of the district in 2014.

To help facilitate these underprivileged children's access to universities, he has started providing free coaching to nearly 100 students who are all set to appear in university admission tests. 

For his outstanding contribution in ensuring education for tea garden workers' children, he recently received the Joy Bangla Youth Award in Dhaka.