Bangladeshi wins inaugural WISE Prize for Education

Updated on: Friday, November 04, 2011

A Bangladeshi social activist has been awarded the world's first major prize for education in recognition of four decades of his work in taking education to the rural poor in his country and beyond.

Sir Fazle Hasan Abed, founder of Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC), was awarded the first WISE Prize for Education in the Qatari capital Doha that hosted the third World Innovation Summit for Education(WISE).

A specially designed gold medal, bearing the word 'education' in over 50 languages, was presented to Abed in Doha by Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, the Amir of Qatar, before 1,300 delegates at the opening session of the summit.

"I am guided by an ideal of a world free from all forms of exploitation and discrimination. Education is the answer to this quest," Abed said. Abed was chosen in recognition of his 40-year career dedicated to alleviating poverty through education.

He founded BRAC in 1972 to address the humanitarian crisis, which followed the country's struggle for independence. Over the next four decades, he built an NGO with 120,000 workers, based on the principle of empowering people to grow as inpiduals, to manage the welfare of their families and to contribute to their societies.

Its activities now reach almost 140 million people in 10 Asian, African and Central American countries, and enable people to acquire the tools to set up their own micro-businesses, become health workers, or teach.

He established and nurtured international networks of like-minded inpiduals, organisations and government institutions. BRAC is also one of the largest non-government providers of education in the world, contributing directly to the pre-primary, primary and secondary education of more than 10 million students.

It concentrates on bringing education to children and young people who are not reached by the traditional education system. "I have discovered time and again in my four decades of work with BRAC that education is the fundamental catalyst for change," Abed said.

Bangladeshi wins inaugural WISE Prize for Education

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