PM spends quality time with underprivileged children

A smiling Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina holds her granddaughter Leela as she poses with underprivileged children of Shishu Palli Plus, a UK-based non-government organisation, at her official residence, Gono Bhaban, yesterday. Photo: PMO

Hundreds of underprivileged children and mothers spent some hours full of enjoyment and merrymaking with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at her official residence, Gono Bhaban, yesterday.
The PM found time in her busy schedule to invite these children of a UK-based non-government organisation, Shishu Palli Plus, to spend some quality time with them.
The children presented songs and dance routines before Hasina, who, with Leela, daughter of her nephew Redwan Mujib Siddique Bobby, cheered and encouraged them.
Shishu Palli Plus, a non-religious and non-political organisation located in Sreepur of Gazipur district, provides destitute mothers and their children health knowledge, education and skills so that they can function independently in society.
It also provides them with a secure environment, food, clothing, education and vocational training. Currently over 150 mothers and 400 children are supported by the organisation.
Greeting the children on their arrival, the PM said the main goal of her politics is to ensure the basic needs for the country's children, including food, clothing, education and shelter.
The government is working tirelessly to turn Bangladesh into a middle-income country by 2021, free from hunger and poverty, she said.
Hasina said it is the government's duty to ensure that children, irrespective of being orphans or living on the streets, get proper education and stay away from hazardous jobs.
She called upon all non-government organisations to supplement government efforts to ensure food, education and shelter for underprivileged children.
She said the government took numerous steps to provide some facilities to the country's children, which includes providing free school textbooks up to higher secondary level.
“We want to groom our children properly and provide all the facilities so that they can be the future leaders of the country,” she said.
Hasina said it is not acceptable that children will pass their days in miserable conditions. “The government is here to take all the responsibilities,” she said.
On a request to provide citizenship to the Shishu Palli Plus founder, Patricia Kerr, Hasina said she personally had no objection in giving citizenship to a person who devoted more than 30 years in serving destitute mothers and their children.
However, “We have to follow the rules of the country before giving citizenship to her,” she said.
Social Welfare Minister Enamul Hoque Mostofa Shaheed, State Minister for Women and Children Affairs Dr Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury, British High Commissioner in Dhaka Robert Gibson and Shishu Palli Plus founder Patricia Kerr also spoke on the occasion.