Never too late to learn.

When Shefali Mondol was fifteen she was illiterate but wanted an education. She was very interested to go to primary school as she had heard about BrightStars and wanted to learn. At fifteen she was too old to be admitted to BrightStars in kindergarten class. 

Shefali’s father is a carpenter and the mother looks after the family. She is the youngest among the six children in the family. Her family had decided to arrange her marriage but she did not accept the family decision. She persuaded her father to find out about BrightStars School and brought her for admission against his will just to make Shefali happy as he was very sure that his daughter will not be able to be accepted to  school at her age. He was wrong.

Chitto Halder decided to admit Shefali into Bright Stars School which had been operating on one uncompleted floor with volunteer staff but admitted her in 2009 and gave her special care and provided her extra lessons. She was doing well and progressing very quickly. In this way she attended the Primary completion exams organized by Bangladesh Government and passed successfuly. 

With the help of BrightStars she now attends a secondary school in the area. Her father is covering all her education cost happily. Now Shefali is in grade eight this year and she is the only girl who is going to school. Though she is the eldest student in her class yet this does not bother her and she likes to go to school regularly.

Now she is a grown up lady, her age is now around twenty and facing a very real and social problem. She came to BrightStars School last week and said that her father is organizing marriage at this age. She thinks that she will accept her father’s decision because of her age.

She and her family are very grateful to Bright Stars School and they think that without BSS she would not have the opportunity of education up to grade eight. For this young lady the  little opportunity of education made her life change and she is expecting  to marry someone who has at least completed secondary education.

Though the life of this girl has not dramatically changed her life style will be forever changed. With this opportunity of education that Bright Stars School provided Shefali's family will most likely receive an education because Shefali knows the value of an education and will pass this onto her family. With each generation comes improvement  and Shefali will never be looked into the isolation of illiteracy. 

 Any education is never wasted and who knows what impact Shefali's education at BrightStars  will have for her and her family into the future. No doubt it has been a great gift for her. 

EchoStars thanks all Sponsors for keeping this program going and offering education to girls like Shefali and opening the door to literacy.  

Donate to our program via our Rotary Australia World Project page for EchoStars by clicking here and help us keep going.