UCEP (Underprivileged Children's Educational Programmes) a leading non-government organisation that strives to inculcate marketable skills among the hardcore poor urban working children and adolescents through general education and vocational skill training and on-the-job apprenticeship in close collaboration with enterprises and industries throughout Bangladesh. The origin of UCEP-Bangladesh is connected with a philanthropic New Zealander, Lindsay Allan Cheyne, who came to Bangladesh on a British relief mission in 1970 to run a mother and child health clinic for the millions of tornado hit distressed families in the southeastern part of the country. Along with his relief operation duties, Cheyne worked with the Directorate of Social Welfare in planning an educational programme for the underprivileged, homeless, poor children. He also worked hard to find a sponsor. The Danish government responded to his appeal and extended generous financial assistance to launch a 3-year project. The government of Bangladesh provided a building to house the programme to facilitate establishment of UCEP in 1972 as an international NGO.

Initially, UCEP worked with the concept of 'community schools' to provide alternative schooling opportunity to the poor working children living in slums or on the streets of the cities. The pilot project experience was very positive in terms of the results of schooling and the response of the poor working children and the street children. The concept of 'non-formal education' has been gradually grounded in UCEP as a useful approach to improving the condition of the poor out-of-school children considered as an 'specially disadvantaged group'. UCEP added skills training opportunities to its general education in 1983 and established a technical school in Dhaka. By that time, UCEP's general education programme was expanded to Chittagong and Khulna cities. In 1988, UCEP got registered as a national NGO under the Voluntary Social Welfare (Registration and Control) Ordinance 1961. In 2000, UCEP had 30 general schools, 3 technical schools and 6 para-trade training centres located in 4 major cities: Dhaka, Chittagong, Khulna and Rajshahi.

Key objectives of the organisation are to raise the socio-economic conditions of the urban poor by caring for their children, to enable the urban poor to participate effectively in the national development, to enhance the dignity of the urban poor through acquisition of knowledge and skill, and to help the urban poor in the fulfilment of their basic rights. UCEP general schools follow the curriculum and textbooks prescribed by the National Curriculum and Textbook Board and provide basic education up to Grade VIII. The education services of UCEP are designed on the basis of assessment of specific needs of each individual child of the school through observation during family visits and interviews with the children and their families. The general needs of the target groups have been identified over two decades of experience by UCEP and through periodic formal surveys and studies. UCEP general schools system is geared towards sustaining the motivation of the children and parents, as well as community support for their schooling. UCEP schools adhere to some strategies making them unique by design. These include working while learning, brief school semester and abridged curriculum. At UCEP, graduation takes place in two grades: V (primary) and VIII (lower secondary).

To attract children to education, UCEP schools are established in the vicinity of areas where they work and/or live, e.g., slums, industrial zones, etc. Throughout the school programme, UCEP teachers maintain close contact with the families, the employers of their students, and the community through regular visits and meetings.

UCEP provides vocational education through its 3 technical schools in Dhaka, Chittagong and Khulna. The para trade training of UCEP is an innovative and cost-effective vocational intervention that allows working children to acquire basic skills in simple trades in a very short period (6 months). Existing trades in 6 UCEP para-trade centres are electrical woodcarving, embroidery, motor mechanics, signboard and banner writing, leather crafts, screen-printing, and tailoring.

UCEP is administered by a 7-member elected board of governors. Its chief executive is the executive director assisted by two deputy directors and five component managers. In the field level, the school/unit administrators are responsible for execution of the plan of actions of their respective components under the supervision of divisional co-ordinators. UCEP is a large organisation having a staff of nearly 800 members with a male:female ratio of 70:30. Geographically, UCEP is divided into 8 divisions each headed by a divisional co-ordinator.

UCEP currently enjoys the generous technical and financial support from foreign donor agencies. A consortium of development partners provides financial support against approved project document planned for a period of 3-5 years. The present members of UCEP development partners consortium include Royal Danish Embassy in Bangladesh, Royal Norwegian Embassy in Bangladesh, Swiss Development Corporation (SDC), Department for International Development (DFID) and Swedish Save the Children Fund. Other funding sources include beneficiaries' contributions, sharing of cost by industries, sale of training products, philanthropic donations etc.

UCEP programmes are spread over four metropolitan cities of Bangladesh - Dhaka, Chittagong, Khulna and Rajshahi. During the period 1972-2000 UCEP extended support service to as many as 100,566 poor urban working children who enrolled as student in UCEP education system. Out of them 48,126 passed grade-V and 32,439 passed grade-VIII from UCEP general schools, 9,867 students completed vocational training at UCEP technical schools and 1,873 completed para-trade skill training at UCEP para-trade training centres. In June 2001, a total of 22,581 children have been pursuing general education and vocational or para-trade skill training at the UCEP schools and training centres.

The UCEP budget for the year 2001 (January-December) was Tk 136.722 million ($2.67 million). UCEP's efforts have been acclaimed nationally, regionally and internationally. The Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) bestowed its UN ESCAP HRD Runner up Award on UCEP twice, once in 1995 (declared in 1996) and again in 1997 (declared in 1998). UCEP is listed in the UN ESCAP's 'Compendium of Centres of Excellence in HRD Research and Training'. [Shamsul Huda]