Igniting a Thirst for Knowledge

With the help of a $10,000 grant from Davis Projects for Peace, Inara Tareque ’16 spent her summer tackling poverty and education in her home country of Bangladesh. Funded by philanthropist Kathryn Wasserman Davis, Projects for Peace offers college and university students an opportunity to address issues they care about. 

Tareque and high school friend Thomas Yim, a student at Brown University, used their grant to construct and organize a library at Charduani Middle School in the remote village of Charduani, equipping the facility with computers, Internet access, and a broad selection of books in English and Bengali. Tareque and Yim received book donations from the Asia Foundation, which will continue to donate books every four months. The summer, Tareque says, was a busy time of not only organizing the library, but also holding education empowerment workshops for the school’s families. Her aunt, who leads Charduani Middle School, offered guidance. 

Tareque and Yim taught sessions on using computers, conducting online research and offering rewards to students for reading books. Parents got advice, too.

“I think education is the backbone for the development of any society,” says Tareque, the daughter of a professor and a middle school teacher. She links the poverty cycle to a lack of educational opportunities.

Political turmoil and the remote location presented challenges. Yet Tareque and Yim saved $1,000 from their grant, donating it to fill the school’s waterlogged playground. 

Tareque hopes the project will decrease dropout rates and contribute to the village’s development. 

“I hope the library will motivate students to work hard and garner knowledge throughout their lives.”