An Evening in Support of
Langol Bhanga Primary School
Indigenous Garo Community of Bangladesh
Friday 31 July, from 18:00
Le Vieux Cèdre, Le Dorat
Tickets: €25, including a donation to the school
Join us for an evening of food, conversation, community and fundraising in support of Langol Bhanga Catholic Primary School, a small Garo community school in northern Bangladesh.
The evening will include dinner, a raffle and a fundraising auction. All support will contribute towards improving educational opportunities for the children and teachers of the school.
The School
Langol Bhanga Primary School serves children from the Garo Indigenous community of Nalikhali, a rural area close to the forest borderlands of northern Bangladesh. The school has 54 pupils and four Garo teachers. It provides an essential local education for children who would otherwise have limited access to regular schooling.
The teachers are deeply committed, but the school operates with few resources.
Professional training, teaching materials, reliable internet access and digital learning equipment remain limited.
Funds raised through the evening will help provide:practical teacher training, access to certified online learning, reliable internet connectivity, a laptop, projector and screen, improved classroom resources.
The purpose is not to replace local teachers, but to strengthen the skills and resources already present within the community.
The Garo Community
The Garo, who also identify as A'chik or Mandi, are an Indigenous people living across northern Bangladesh and the neighbouring Garo Hills of India.
Garo society is traditionally matrilineal. Family identity, inheritance and land are commonly passed through the female line. The Garo maintain their own language, social customs, music, agricultural knowledge, food traditions and relationship with the forest.
Today, many Garo communities in Bangladesh face increasing pressure from land loss, migration, forest decline and the growing dominance of Bengali language and culture. Young people need the skills to participate confidently in the wider world without becoming separated from their own community and heritage.
A strong local school can serve as an anchor for both education and cultural continuity.
Kevin Foster and Deborah Hennessy, pictured in the back row, with Garo teachers and pupils during their recent visit to Nalikhali, Bangladesh. Established in 1961 as a mission school serving indigenous families living in and around the forest, Langol Bhanga School remains an important centre of education, culture and community life.
ETHNOMAD works with Indigenous, traditional and tribal communities to document cultural knowledge and develop practical, community-based projects.Its work combines ethnographic research, education, cultural documentation, conservation and local development. Communities are not treated simply as subjects of research. Projects are developed through local relationships, community priorities and long-term field engagement.
In Bangladesh, ETHNOMAD supports work connected to education, Garo cultural knowledge, youth learning, sustainable tourism, and human-elephant coexistence.
