Tale of a visually impaired teacher

As the children in the classroom open their English grammar books for the day's lesson, their teacher Fazlul Haque picks up his book too. But it is a bit different than the students' classroom books. It is in Braille, a system of raised dots that can be read with the fingers by people who are blind or who have low vision.

Fazlul Haque is visually impaired but he is teaching voluntarily at a govt primary school and a junior high school on the same campus at a remote village, Charkhatamari, in Lalmonirhat Sadar upazila in the Dharla river basin.

Nineteen-year-old Fazlul Haque, who was blind at birth, studied Braille from 2005 to 2009 at RDRS Bangladesh, an NGO in Haribhanga area of Lalmonirhat town. There he completed the fifth grade.

He has been teaching for the last two years now. He works voluntarily and wants to continue his work as long as he can.

“I couldn't continue my studies at school because of poverty, but I want the students of this village to continue their studies so that they can have a better future in life,” said Fazlul.

“I took up teaching as I can't work like everybody else,” he said, adding he was trying to become an ideal teacher.

Abdus Samad, the headmaster of the primary school in the village, said, "Fazlul is really brilliant. The students never act up when he is teaching.”

“We have no fund for helping Fazlul Haque, but I am going to ask the managing committee to pay him for his work,” he said.

The headmaster of the junior high school, Noor Islam, said they were impressed with Fazlul's teaching of English grammar.

“Students pay attention to Fazlul's lessons, and he has become a popular teacher in my school,” he said.

Monowara Begum, an assistant teacher of the primary school, said, “Fazlul makes his lessons very interesting and easy. His talent is really a gift from god.”

Fazlul's father, Mozahar Ali, is a fisherman. He said he was very worried about their son's life but now he felt proud of him when people greeted him as Fazlul's parents.

“We don't have any land. We live on a piece of Khas land owned by the government, and we live hand to mouth. But we now hope our son will have a better future,” he said.