Trailblazing the Learning Landscape: Sadia Jafrin

Sadia Jafrin, founder of the Grow Your Reader Foundation becomes the 'bti The Daily Star Stellar Woman' in the Education category in 2023. Stellar Women is a joint initiative by bti and The Daily Star to recognize young and emerging women from different sectors who are taking the nation forward with significant contributions.

"The expression a child gives when they learn something new continues to inspire me to work for them. I may not have fulfilled my parents' dreams, but I am happily fulfilling the dreams of other parents."- Sadia Jafrin

Today's youth are largely disengaged from reading books. To encourage readership, especially among children in the most remote areas, Sadia Jafrin has defied all expectations to reform education from the grassroots level. This is her story, from being a confused pharmacy graduate to a leader in the making.

Sadia, a scholarship student with exceptional grades, faced high expectations from her family. As a middle child, she often felt overshadowed by her siblings. Her brother, the youngest and only son, received special treatment, while her older sister, a public servant, garnered significant parental attention. To please her parents, Sadia believed she needed to attain a public university degree and secure a government job like her sister. However, after joining the pharmaceutical industry following her graduation from Jahangirnagar University, she grew anxious, realizing this wasn't her true calling. She held a profound sense of responsibility towards Bangladesh and desired to contribute to society.

Passionate about books and convinced of their importance in self-development and creating empathy, Sadia made a bold choice to leave her well-paid job and become a Teach for Bangladesh fellow. Despite her parents' opposition, she fearlessly went on to work for parents who couldn't afford quality education. Witnessing children's lack of proper reading skills due to the unavailability of books motivated her. She donated books to improve their reading abilities, finding joy in their learning progress. This led her to establish the Grow Your Reader Foundation in 2019, dedicating herself to the cause with limited resources, against her family's wishes.

Lack of family support and funding did not stop her from following her belief. She installed the first library station with only 216 books and then expanded the number of library stations across Bangladesh to 28, containing 10,000 books with 8,500 readers. When schools were closed and children could not physically reach these library stations during the Covid-19 pandemic, Sadia started the award-winning WoW (Wheels of Wisdom) project, which utilized three-wheeled vans equipped with books and internet connectivity to support children's learning during education disruptions caused by the pandemic. So far, the project has distributed over 7,400 books with over 34,000 hours of internet access across nine communities in Jessore, Mymensingh, and Barisal hotspots.

She also started the 'Book Garage' across 19 streets in Dhaka, Jamalpur, Tangail, and Chittagong, an initiative where children can borrow, read, and return used, donated books. The goal of the Book Garage is to promote literacy slowly and encourage children who are school dropouts to continue reading and learning. In 2022, she introduced 'School er Baire Shikha' at Dharmatala, Jessore, where disadvantaged children deprived of formal education and private tuition can get quality education under the open sky.

Sadia Jafrin also introduced interesting teaching concepts. For example, 'Reading Secrets' is a self-explanatory curriculum that students can use to improve their reading skills. She also trained teachers with her specially developed curricula, namely 'Social-Emotional Learning', 'Sustainable Living', and 'Child Nutrition'. Children can access the Foundation's books by watching them on YouTube, as well as listen through Bangladesh's first audiobook app, 'Sunboi'. Therefore, no matter where a child is in Bangladesh, they can access quality education physically and online, however they prefer.

Sadia Jafrin is also an Acumen Fellow and was recently listed in the Top 100 Leaders in Education Award presented by the Education 2.0 Conference. She has also been selected as a Young Leader of the Queen's Commonwealth Trust.

She hopes that Stellar Women will advance her work further, and also inspire other women to contribute in nation building.