You might take a car, a bus, or a bike to school. But in Bangladesh, instead of waiting for a school bus to come down their street, many students wait for a school boat to come down the river. That’s right—these students attend school on a boat!
Bangladesh is very close to sea level.______36______ The flooding creates many problems. For the nearly 160 million people living there, the periodic flooding means that they are often unable to access roads, electricity, or telephones.
Growing up in Bangladesh, Mohammed Rezwan was often troubled by these disruptions(破坏). ______37_____ The name means “self-reliance (自力更生).” The purpose of the organization is to help the people of Bangladesh receive an education and also to bring technology and an improved quality of life to poor people in remote areas of the country. In 2002, Rezwan began transforming boats into schools. Each boat was built to house between 30 and 35 students. The boats had everything you might find in a regular classroom. The only difference was that they floated on a river.
______38______ Today Rezwan and his organization operate 88 boats in northern Bangladesh. About half the boats are used as schools, and the other half are used as temporary houses during the flood season. In addition to the schools and the temporary housing, there are also a floating technology and training center, a library that allows students to check out books, and a health-care center. The school boats travel along the rivers and pick up students for classes that include computer technology, agriculture, and human rights.
At night the boats provide additional learning opportunities for students and adults. ______39______ They study using solar lamps that are charged during the day at stations near the river. Special equipment on the boats also projects lessons onto big screens made from sail cloth. People can come down to the river bank to watch films. In all, these boats help educate close to 90,000 families in Bangladesh.
By floating down the rivers, the school boats provide more than books. ______40______ “This ‘library’ boat inspired me,” said 18-year-old student Shanto Islam, who enjoys reading science fiction books. “I started to dream.” Islam now wants to attend a university.
A. For this reason the land is flooded for five months of every year.
B. They also deliver knowledge, opportunity, and hope to all generations.
C. Parents living in the area are happy to have the boats.
D. He did not want to design houses, though.
E. In 1998 he founded an organization called Shidhulai.
F. These boats have been a great success.
G. Both of them can attend evening courses.