Photo: Prabir Das

Syeda Shagufe Hossain is a shining example of how the youth of Bangladesh can contribute to the social welfare and development of our country in innovative ways. A graduate from the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies at York University of Canada, she started thinking of working in development early on in life.

As the founder of Leaping Boundaries, she had initially established the programme to fill in the gaps created between madras students and the mainstream education and employment system.

In 2012, while doing short term consultancies at the International Finance Corporation (IFC), Shagufe read an article in The Daily Star titled 'Slates, Smiles and Ambitions,' which highlighted the issues faced by madrasa students who are excluded from a mainstream education and employment opportunities.  “That's when I started my programme -- Leaping Boundaries,” she explains.  “I got in touch with Professor Haroon Rashid Khan, the chair of the English Department at South East University. We discussed ideas and that got me started,” she says.

“I got in touch with the House of Volunteers and ROTERACT, two student clubs at BRAC University, about teaching at madrasas. They were already teaching at Korail Bosti around that time. I told them it wouldn't cost a lot and if they are looking for viable projects, this was something they could look into.”

Initially, Shagufe believed that the main problem for these students was that they did not speak English. “If these children could be taught to communicate in English, they could get access and acceptance to the so called mainstream society and eventually learn to think outside the box,” she explains. However, after working with them she realised it was their visibility in the mainstream that was the issue. "So, I remodelled the programme and identified two platforms- the Spelling Bee and BYLC's training programme, which already include Madrasa students, but not a very high percentage of them,” she says.

Leaping Boundaries is currently running in the Nibras International Madrasa in Rampura and the Madinatus Ulum Model International Womens' Kamil Madrasa. Apart from language skills Shagufe and her volunteers provide academic counselling. In the future she plans to include training in Information and Communication Technology, as well as various Soft Skills in the programme.