Change Makers | The Daily Star

  • Following in her father’s footsteps

    Fauzia Beethi is not a political figure in her area, but everybody knows her in Bogura’s Dhunat upazila for her philanthropic works.

  • For the love of a language

    In a country where people laid down their lives about seventy years ago to uphold the dignity of their mother tongue, Bangla, the struggle is still on to preserve mother tongues of smaller ethnic communities.

  • The pursuit of a dignified life

    Giving away her hard-earned income to the destitute, Dil Afroze Khuki of Rajshahi chose a life of constant battles. In her 60s now, she has been a newspaper hawker in the northern city for 30 years.

  • A beacon with books for all

    A schoolboy who started a library in his village with only 10 books back in 2014 now supplies books to 30 salon-based mini-libraries in two upazilas with money earned from part-time jobs.

  • Ferdousi: A torchbearer of education

    Paschim Barua village used to be pervaded by some typical social ills -- superstition, child marriage, and child labour. A remote village of 20,000 people in Kulaghat union of Lalmonirhat Sadar upazila, it has now been transformed by education.

  • The Daily Star honours: Soinuddin Miah, the man who paved a path for many

    Mohammad Soinuddin Miah, a farmer of remote village in Tangail, put in superhuman labour for four years to construct a 1.5-kilometre long earthen road with the intention of ending the sufferings of his fellow villagers.

  • The Daily Star honours: Abdur Rashid, the man who gave it all for the children

    For close to a decade, Abdur Rashid, a marginal farmer from a remote village in Lalmonirhat, has been running the school, “Kaliganj Pratibandhi Bidyalay”, with support from locals and specialised teachers who volunteer.

  • Mesmerising tunes to inspire them

    A physically challenged youth in the remote Haziganj Bhatitari village of Aditmari upazila in Lalmonirhat is using music to inspire children in his village.

  • Shahjahan, an avid tree lover

    “Only if my village looked as green as Malaysia!”--this is what ASM Khalequzzaman Saju, an avid lover of trees, had in his mind when he returned to his home at Kowri village in Manikganj in 1979.

  • Change maker: Farmer lays a road for his village

    It all began with a simple thought -- the villagers need a road to go to the nearest market, but there is none. Nor did the local administration take any initiative. So Mohammad Chhainuddin, a farmer, took it upon himself to build one.

  • Dr Ehsan Hoque with underprivileged and orphaned children

    Change Maker: Eyes in distress, eyes of hope

    Ehsan Hoque was lucky not to be blind for life, after his birth in 1964. Born with congenital cataracts, an optical disorder responsible for child blindness, he could survive with a limited eyesight. However, unlike most other victims of child blindness because of infections or nutritional deficiencies in pregnancies, his story was to unfold completely differently over the next five decades. His eyes in distress would eventually transform him into an angel parent of children in distress.

  • From worker to apparel entrepreneur

    After the death of her father, Chhobi Das Gupta started working as a garment worker at the age of 12. She dropped out of school and became the bread winner of a family of seven struck hard by poverty.

  • Shahjahan Mia

    On a mission to change lives

    A banker by profession, Md Shahjahan Mia set out on a noble mission – to eradicate illiteracy from Nahata Union in Mohammadpur upazila, Magura.

  • Change Maker Ziaul Haque

    Change Maker: For the love of learning

    When 81-year-old Ziaul Haque was young, just one taka and two annas was all he needed to start class-VI. For his father, a curd seller

  • CHANGE MAKER, Shahidul Islam

    Change maker: Selfless friend of students

    There are stories, now and then, of people succeeding in achieving higher education despite significant obstacles.

  • People's Doctor: Consultation, medicines for just Tk 40

    At 79, Dr Basanta Roy would surely be excused if he put away his stethoscope for good. Instead he works morning to evening, consulting

  • Not a lonely fight, anymore

    Shahana Chowdhury kept going back to the story of her 25-year-old son’s recent Hong Kong visit and repeatedly said how proud she was to have seen her autistic child along with 10 others win the best performance award in a cultural programme there. Her excitement was mixed with gratitude for Begum Nur Jahan Dipa, special educator at the Parents Forum for the Differently Able (PFDA)-Vocational Training Centre, who made it possible.

  • MINDMATTERS: Raising Awareness About Mental Health

    To this day, the Bangladeshi community struggles with the stigma of mental health disorders and treatment. While people openly seek

  • Litmosphere: The secret book club

    Have you ever felt that your habit of reading books is gradually decreasing, as we advance towards a world where gadgets take up

  • Promoting art through Calligraphy

    Calligraphy has been practiced for a very long time in many parts of the world, including ours. Many used this art form to create special

  • Project Alokito Shishu

    Imagine growing up on the streets of Dhaka as an underprivileged child, without a roof above your head or a bed to sleep on.

  • PROJECT DALIT

    Ironically, people who labour to keep our society clean are considered 'unclean'. We often address them with the terms 'sweepers' and 'methors'. Also, most of us are still unfamiliar with the term 'Dalit'. In Bangladesh, this marginalised group of people who encounter discrimination based on their occupation belong to the 'Dalit' community.

  • A Journey to Spread Strength

    Inspirations come in different forms. It is something that we need every day to fight against the odds and advance further, to push

  • Truck Lagbe: A new name in the delivery world

    Mr. Anayet Rashid, Founder and CEO of Truck Lagbe, and Mr. Meer Hosain Ekram, COO, are the key developers of the app. The idea of

  • Introducing mobility to the city

    The path was not always smooth. Initially, Pathao started as a delivery service. It delivered parcels and goods on

  • Leaping Boundaries breaking stereotypes

    'Slates, Smiles and Ambitions' is an article that was published in the Daily Star's 'Star Campus' back in 2012. It

  • 'Footsteps' towards a Better Tomorrow

    Access to clean water is not only a fundamental human need, but also a basic human right.

  • Education: For Passion And Purpose

    Gone are the days when children and young people were fed 'dreams' of being doctors and engineers.

  • Asroy a youth initiative

    The story behind Asroy is quite heartening. “One winter night in December 2009, we wanted to bring warmth to the people sleeping

  • Prioritising health care and sports for the youth

    Very recently, at a roundtable organised by the Daily Star, youth leaders and students from Dhaka came together to talk about how the

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