Jim Akhtar, a class nine student of Rebeka Habib Girls High School at Tulsighat in Gaibandha, says, “I see domestic violence in my own home. My father and brother do not let my mother or me to speak up; we are firmly reprimanded if we raise another point of view. We are completely dependent on them for all our needs. But after I joined the campaign, I have started to find my voice. I do not allow them to bully me into submission. I do not get aggressive but I gently but firmly tell them that they cannot behave like this.

My neighbour approached me one day. She was distressed because her husband had forcibly withdrawn their daughter from school after she finished her fifth class saying that there was no need for her to study beyond this. I spoke to her husband and convinced him how important and essential it is to educate his daughter. Now the little girl has resumed school and I feel good to have made a difference to someone’s life.”