Ramakrishna Sebashram in Tangail's Uttar Rowail: Lessons for 200 Students, Sewing Training for 350 Women

About 200 students sat in rows on the floor of the one-storey auditorium of the Ramakrishna Sebashram in Uttar Rowail village in Mirzapur upazila of Tangail at 8am on 6 November. Some were Muslim and some were followers of the Sanatan faith. A recitation, English spelling and drawing competition was held there that day.

Around 40 students took part in the competition. Nine winners, three in each of the three categories, received geometry boxes, pens and pencils as prizes. The student who came first in drawing had drawn a mosque, the second a temple, and the third a picture of Swami Vivekananda.

This time first place in drawing went to Tasrif Sarkar, a class three student of Ramakrishna Mission KG School in the upazila town. He said they are all students and that he enjoyed coming to the ashram for the competition. Nafisa Akter, who came third in recitation, is a student of the same school; she said she comes here from time to time and takes part in various competitions.

The ashram holds such competitions on the first Friday of every month. After the competition, students were seen collecting food kept at one side of the auditorium in an orderly line.

The initiative was founded by Prakash Chandra Chakrabarty. His home is in Bhavanipur village in Harirampur upazila of Manikganj, but for his studies he lived from childhood at the home of his uncle Meghlal Chakrabarty in Uttar Rowail village in Warshi union of Mirzapur. Meghlal was an assistant teacher at Warshi M Yasin and Yunus Ali Khan High School.

Prakash Chandra passed his secondary exams from that school in 1986, entered Notre Dame College in Dhaka and passed his higher secondary exams in 1988. He was then admitted to accounting at Dhaka University in the 1988-89 session, but through the initiative of Aksharananda Maharaj he received an opportunity to go to the United States for higher education, so he could not finish his degree there. He moved to the United States in 1991, completed his bachelor's and master's degrees there, and joined an organisation as an audit officer.

In 1995 he founded the Swami Vivekananda Study and Philanthropic Center of New York in the United States. He wanted to build a service institution in his uncle's neighbourhood to hold on to his childhood memories. From that initiative the Ramakrishna Sebashram was established in Uttar Rowail, beginning its journey on 9 March 2019 with a coaching centre.

At the ashram's Sarada-Nivedita Shishu Niketan, students from class one to class eleven are taught moral education and encouraged to develop their talents. Classes there run every Friday from 7:30am to 9:30am. About 200 students take part from Rowail, Warshi, Dopatia, Barutia, Ghugi, Bhaora, Khailsindur, Sarishadaira, Deohata, Sahapara, Bhatgram, Andhara and Baimahati in Mirzapur, and from Chowhat, Balia, Gabra, Jethail, Bangla and Jhikutia in the neighbouring Dhamrai upazila, and all of them are given breakfast.

For students of class six to class eleven, the Swami Sahananda Free Coaching Centre holds free classes three days a week, on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, from 10am to 12:30pm. About 50 students study there and are taught by nine teachers.

Md Suman Mia teaches mathematics at the coaching centre. He said they take only a nominal honorarium from here and that he mainly teaches out of a sense of humanity. In his words, there is no Hindu-Muslim division here; discipline and moral education are given the greatest importance.

Swami Hariharananda, also known as Vivek Maharaj, who is in charge of the ashram, said 350 women have been given sewing training since the institution was founded. The training courses lasted three months and six months. Among them, 12 women were given sewing machines free of charge.

In addition, 14 widows have been given an allowance of 500 taka a month since 2019. During Eid, sugar and vermicelli are distributed among poor people. During the Covid period, 20 women students of Dhaka University were given financial assistance, and the cost of studying up to an MBBS degree was borne for 15 students at Kumudini Medical College and other medical colleges.

Hariharananda said the ashram spends an average of one lakh taka a month. Most of it is given by Prakash Chandra, and the rest comes from the Ramakrishna Sebashram in Dhaka.

Phulmala Roy of Uttar Rowail village lost her husband about seven years ago. The 500 taka she receives from the ashram each month gives her some relief in running her household with her two sons. Another woman of the same village, Jamuna Sutradhar, had a broken one-room house; about two years ago, with Prakash Chandra's help, the ashram built her a house.

The ashram's acting president Rabindranath Chakrabarty said Prakash makes no distinction between Hindus and Muslims. Having seen many classmates in financial hardship during his school life may be why he gives importance to education and works for everyone. Bindi Rani Sarkar, an assistant teacher at Mirzapur's Ramakrishna Mission KG School, sometimes brings students to the ashram; in her words, everyone is equal here and there is no division.