The JAAGO Foundation is a civil society organization established in April 2007 and based in Bangladesh. JAAGO operates with the help of its employees and work towards the betterment of people living below the poverty line. The JAAGO Foundation currently has schools spread all over Bangladesh catering free of cost schools for 3,500 underprivileged children. One of JAAGO major annual events is the 'Universal Children's Day'. The foundation has more than 35,000 volunteers via its volunteer platform 'Volunteer for Bangladesh' who celebrate this day by raising awareness for children's rights.
History
In April 2007, Korvi Rakshand, a law school student, started a movement with some friends to distribute relief to the flood victims at the slums of Rayer Bazaar in Dhaka city. Later he expanded this program to establish the JAAGO Foundation with the hope of 'breaking the cycle of poverty through education'. Although JAAGO originally started out by providing free of cost primary school education to the children of Rayer Bazaar, Dhaka it slowly started to expand its activities all over Bangladesh.
In 2007, the JAAGO Foundation started its school with 17 children on a piece of carpet and a whiteboard. It has now expanded to 12 fully functional branches and over 3,000 students. The JAAGO School is the first of its kind to provide free of cost education of international standards to the destitute children of Bangladesh. The primary course of instruction is English although students are also taught Bangla to have a very strong background in Bengali. In September 2011, JAAGO Foundation began its first digital school as a pilot program. Out of the 13 existing schools 10 are 'Digital Schools'.
Other activities
Volunteer For Bangladesh
Through , JAAGO Foundation, for the first time in Bangladesh, provided the youth with a voice and a platform. This concern of JAAGO Foundation is a nationwide association of Volunteer Action Groups that work for the betterment of their individual communities and the nation as a whole. Volunteer for Bangladesh plans to establish Volunteer Action Groups around 64 districts of Bangladesh and is supported by the US Embassy, Dhaka.
International operations
JAAGO has now opened supporting branches in U.S., UK, Canada and Australia. Most of these branches are operated by native nationals who once worked as volunteers for JAAGO.
