Completion of the 18th batch of Office Applications

The 18th batch of Office Applications has successfully completed its long journey, with each student demonstrating outstanding performance. Congratulations to all the award winners on behalf of Abul Khair Computer Training Center.

During the event, students were encouraged to build their careers as skilled professionals in the IT sector. Prizes were awarded for excellent performance, including first and second places, as well as recognition for perfect attendance.

Why attendance is an award here

Perfect attendance is not a small thing in a village course. Students come between farm work, family duties and, for some, a long walk. Finishing a batch without missing a day is an achievement in its own right, which is why it is recognized separately from the marks.

What the course covers

Office Applications is the center's core course: word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, file management, printing and basic internet and email use. It is taught in Bengali on the machines students will meet in a local office, and the whole course, including the certificate, is free.

Eighteen batches have now completed it since the training center opened. The center is part of the second of the organization's three educational pillars, alongside stipends for general education and the free polytechnic training that will be taught in the Abul Khair Academic Building now under construction.

What happens next

Enrolment for the next batch opens between courses. Anyone in the area who wants a place can contact the organization with their name, age, village and level of schooling, and will be told when the next intake begins.

Where the certificate leads

A certificate in office applications is not a career on its own, but in this upazila it is the difference between being considered for clerical, teaching-assistant and shop administration work and not being considered at all. Employers here ask whether an applicant can produce a letter, keep a stock sheet and send an email, and until a young person can answer yes, the question ends the conversation.

It matters most for the women in each batch. For a number of them a certificate is what makes work possible at all, because it opens the kind of job that can be done locally rather than the kind that requires leaving the district.

Supporting the next batch

The center's costs are machines that wear out, electricity for a room full of computers, and an instructor's time for the length of a course. Nothing is charged to a student at any point. A donation to the education program pays for those three things and nothing else, and every batch is reported here when it finishes.

Our thanks from Abul Khair Computer Training Center to everyone who taught, studied and supported this batch.