Children of victims want education

The school-going children of the victims of Rana Plaza collapse yesterday demanded that the government ensure education opportunities for them.
They said they will most likely have to stop going to school as their families cannot bear their education expenses.
The children were speaking at a programme organised by Socialist Students Front (SSF), student wing of Socialist Party of Bangladesh, at Savar Girls School yesterday.
Sagorica Akter Toma, a class II student of Emandipur Government Primary School, said her mother, Zahanara Begum, went missing in the collapse of nine-storey Rana Plaza. She said her mother used to work at New Wave Style Ltd, one of the garment factories housed in Rana Plaza.
“My mother used to pay my school fees. I will probably have to stop going to school now," she said.
She said her father Dukhu Miah is a rickshaw puller and earns only Tk 5,000 to Tk 5,500 monthly, which is not enough to maintain their household costs and education costs.
“I also have a younger brother who is a class one student of Emandipur Brac School,” she said.
Like Sagorica, over 100 children, who have either lost one or both of their parents in the building collapse or whose parents have became disabled in the disaster, wanted their right to education at the programme. SSF organised the programme to give stationary, uniforms, school bags and other items needed for school to the students who are studying in different schools in Savar.
Abu Sayeed Khan, managing editor of the Bangla daily Samakal, and Rajekuzzaman Ratan, member of Socialist Party of Bangladesh central committee, among others, addressed the programme.