Several hundred struggle to continue studies

The couple dreamt of sending their only daughter to a medical college. So they were saving as much as half of their income of Tk 20,000. But all of a sudden, after the deadly Rana Plaza collapse, they discovered themselves living on the mercy of people. 
Ashraful Islam Shujon, who worked as a sewing machine operator at Ether Tex garment factory at Rana Plaza in Savar, lost his left hand and leg. And his wife, Rina Begum, quit her job at another garment factory, a few kilometres away in Ashulia, to attend to the ailing man in hospital.
The couple lived in a small rented room in Savar, leaving their daughter with her grandparents in Lalmonirhat so as to get on with less and save more.
"Before the collapse, we earned over Tk 20,000 a month together and saved as much as Tk 10,000-Tk 12,000. Now, I am living on the mercy of people," Shujon told The Daily Star at the Centre for the Rehabilitation of the Paralysed (CRP) in Savar where he is taking physiotherapy.
The April 24 disaster, which killed at least 1,134 people and maimed and wounded several hundred others, also forced their six-year-old daughter, Asha Moni, to leave her school at Kaliganj upazila in Lalmonirhat where she studied in class I.
Like Asha, about 700 children and dependants of 400 families victimised by the Rana Plaza have either dropped out or have been struggling to continue studies due to financial crisis, says the Village Education Centre (Verc), a non-government organisation, which surveyed 540 affected families before drawing its conclusion.
Last week, about 70 families gathered at Verc's Savar office under its “Recovery Support to Building Collapse People for Savar Tragedy” project, supported by Save the Children, where this correspondent caught up with the story of Asha.
Within the capacity of the project, Verc is providing 176 children, including Asha, with educational facilities, instant financial help, and vocational training to their guardians, said Babul Moral, the project manager.
Each of the children was given Tk 1,500 as instant financial support, while 100 of them got Tk 20,000 in their fixed deposit accounts, he told The Daily Star.