As I discussed in an earlier post, there are thousands upon thousands of Dalits in Bangladesh, some would say several million. Dalit is the term given to the descendants of the formerly so-called Untouchables, the lowest of the Hindu castes. While the caste system is officially illegal in both India and Bangladesh, and much of its formal problems have been eliminated, Dalits in both countries still face discrimination, and many are caught in an endless web of poverty spun by years of oppression.
Many Dalit girls drop out of school after the 4th grade, at ages 10-12, and many are soon married off while still young teenagers. Without an education, an undervalued by a society that tends to see poor girls as a burden rather than a treasure, these girls are essentially destined to lives of deep poverty. It's been the same cycle for hundreds of years and is unlikely to significantly change anytime soon. Girls drop out, get married, have kids early, their daughters don't get an education, and within 15-20 years an entire new generation is mired in the same poverty. If girls stayed in school,
