Mamun Hossain, Pabna

The beautiful school built with the touch of tradition and modernity won the international award for its architectural style.

Baral Vidyaniketan, a children's school was built on the banks of Baral river. The exceptional teaching of the school in an open and eco-friendly atmosphere outside the traditional school has made marginalized children school goers. The school, built in a remote village, has recently won an award from the American Institute of Architects for its aesthetics and innovative architecture.

It is learnt that this school was built in Kumargara village on the banks of Baral river in Chatmohar upazila of Pabna. Mizanur Rahman and Dil Afroz, a philanthropist couple, established this school named Baral Vidyaniketan in 2019 with their family's land and funding to make children aware of the environment as part of the movement to protect the dying Baral river due to encroachment and pollution. Impressed with such efforts to protect the environment, environmentalist architect Iqbal Habib also joined.

When I spoke to Mizanur Rahman, the founder and director of the school, he said, "It seems to me that protecting Baral is not just about protecting the river." People here are extremely averse to education, children don't want to go to school, parents don't want to send them either. For this reason, it seems to me that the environment of the traditional education system does not attract them towards education. So at this marginal stage we started the construction of the school with tin sheds. Later my sister-in-law and lastly the architect Iqbal Habib stood beside me. And it is through this that today's Baral Vidyaniketan School stands tall.

Iqbal, the school's architect, said that he went to Chatmohar in view of the environmental movement. Knowing that Mizanur Rahman, a colleague of the environmental movement, had established a school in a remote area, I visited it. There, I see students taking classes in the summer in a tin room, there is no fault in the efforts of the teachers and school officials under severe limitations. From this point I try to stay with the school. A completely different architecture gave the school its present form from a place of great exemplification. He said, it is not that the cost is too high, but if you have the will, you can create an eye-catching architecture and environment even with a limited cost. This school is an example of that. It has won two international awards in recent architectural design. This architect said that they can be done at a much lower cost than the cost of building government schools.

Going to the surface, it can be seen that Baral Vidyaniketan was transformed into an aesthetic architecture by Iqbal Habib's eye-catching design to bring nature and children's education together. The school is made of brick, wood, bamboo and mud and has two one-storied and one two-storied buildings. Three mango trees in the courtyard like Santiniketan. Brickwork and wall designs allow for adequate light penetration. Students are getting the opportunity to enjoy the sun and rain from the classroom. There is also an interesting library made of clay, like a mysterious cave of treasure. Entrepreneurs have made such efforts from the idea of making children nature-loving and environment-friendly from childhood. Students also come to school regularly with great interest.

Bithi, a student of the third class, said that she did not like going to school before. I don't like not being able to go to school now. School is really good. We do not feel hot even in intense heat. Lots of plants here, we have fun. The classroom is also very beautiful. Jhinuk Khatun of the fifth grade said, there is no such beautiful environment anywhere. When you come to school, you feel better. Moreover, teachers do not teach us like others, they teach us through love, laughter and play. That's why we don't find study or school boring. Our other friends hear them and come to see us at school.

Zhinuk, a student of the school, said, "We learn a lot of cultural things here, including dance, song and poetry recitation." There is a beautiful library to read various books between classes for knowledge. We get a chance to learn many things by reading books. Which is not possible in other schools. According to the school authorities, children are taught in the creative architectural style school with laughter and rhythm. Dance, singing, recitation, drawing and debate are taught. There is a computer lab. Teachers promise to make every child a human being in a well-decorated garden, with laughter and songs. School English teacher Namjul Saqib Tanmoy. He graduated in English from Daffodil University. He used to work in a high position in a buying house in Dhaka.

Seeing the efforts of the school authorities, he started teaching as a volunteer teacher with a nominal salary. He said, we want to give the right education to the students by keeping them away from the fascination of the results. We do not want to see our students in a sick competition for good results. We want to see them as genuine people with integrity.

Regarding teaching, he said, instead of joy, we exploit their weakness. They study in the mood of beauty and joy. At the end of the class I ask them what they learned, they don't tell me everything they learned. It says what is new learned. And that is where they are so interested. They look forward to going to school tomorrow, not like a heavy burden, but can learn something new in a fun way. This interest is our success for now.

Teacher Mahmuda Akhtar Mithu said, sitting in the classroom, they see the sky, see the rain, can run. The classroom is built that way. They are getting the opportunity to grow with flowers and birds. In my opinion, these opportunities will make this generation with innovative abilities and human qualities.