Shahin Alam’s selfless pursuit of knowledge

When the University of Dhaka (DU) was shut down due to the pandemic, 24 -year-old Shahin Alam, a Political Science student of the university, began computer training sessions for physically-challenged and visually-impaired students online, free of cost. Alam is visually-impaired himself. He is from Alampur village under Kotchandpur upazila.

Local and Indian students attend his computer classes via zoom. Besides, some students come to his house for in-person sessions.

Alam was diagnosed with typhoid when he was in the fifth grade. After that, he began to lose his vision. By the time he got to the eighth grade, he had lost his eyesight completely.

He went to Narail Tularampur Secondary School, where he mastered Brielle, and passed his SSC exams with a 4.0 GPA. He also took computer training from the school for ten days. He passed his HSC exams in 2015 from Shamsul Huda Khan Degree College at Kotchandpur with a 4.58 GPA. Alam can operate all aspects of a computer and smartphone. 

During the pandemic, he trained 113 visually-impaired students in two batches.  Now, his third batch is running with 45 students.

Sumon Buddah from India, who attends Alam's computer classes via zoom, describes him as a highly skilled teacher. Moreover, Falguni Rani from India has learned the basics of Microsoft Word and Excel from Alam. 

Alam's father Abdul Kader and mother Minara Begum earnestly hope that the government of the country will assist their son in finding a job.

Currently, Alam is a final-year Master's student at DU. "I do not want to be a burden to anyone. I want to live as happily as I can, especially for my parents," he concludes.