LFE (Live in Field Experience) of IUB

Sheikh Mohammad Mustafa- 1020056

Syeda Nafisa Noor- 1020629

2

Independent university, Bangladesh

Acknowledgement

First of all we would like to thank three of our LFE coordinator Mr. Mohammed Abdul Baten

(SESM), Mr. Abul Khair Jyote (SB) and Ms. Kazi Sanzida Lisa (SESM) for guiding us and

supporting us in every way to make this report. Thanks all four monitors for helping us on field

and off the field and co-operate with us.

Lastly I thank my fellow group mate for taking beautiful snaps and working on this report as my

partner.

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Pre Structured

On 2 January 2013 a group of 70 boys and girls under Section 1 were sent to Joypurhat from

IUB to accomplish the course Life Field Experience (LFE) which is part of their undergraduate

curriculum. Unlike all the courses of IUB taught in the class room LFE is taught on the field of

the different areas of Bangladesh.

The main motto of the course is to give IUB students idea about the rural settings of Bangladesh

also give the students a scope mix with them and understand them more closely. Mainly students

are asked to do a survey entitled as “IUB Health and Socio Economic Survey” to find out the

health and socio economic condition of the rural area.

Later on students have to submit a report on a specific topic that they have experienced on field.

The following part of the report is the pictographic representation of our experience.

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No. Table of Content Page No

1. Study Area(Geographic location) 05

2. Information about Study area 06

3. Weather 07

4. Geographical features 08

5. Demography 09

6. Economy 10

7. Agriculture 11

8. Chain 12

9. Culture 13

10. Life-in-Action 14-26

11. Conclusion 27

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Study Area

Geographic location

Joypurhat District (rajshahi division) with an area of 965.44 sq km, is bounded bydinajpur

district on the north, naogaon districts on the south, bogra and gaibandha districts on the east,

Bogra and Naogaon districts and Indian province of west bengal on the west. Main rivers are

little jamuna, Tulsi Ganga and Haramati. . Joypurhat Sadar is located at 25.8417°N 89.0417°E.

Map: Joypurhat has 5 subdivisions (upazillas):

Akkelpur, Joypurhat, Kalai, Khetlal, Panchbibi.

FIG: Joypurhat District FIG: Location of TMSS in Joypurhat Sadar

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We were assigned to a village name Karimnagar falls under Puranpoil union.

FIG: Study area of Joypurhat

(Karim Nagar Village with a village girl who helped us a lot through our survey)

Information’s About the Study Area

Puranapoil Union

Area of 7428 Decimals

Cultivable Land: 7598.02 Decimals

Village: 20

Household: 4236

Total Population: Male-10841 Female-10259, Total-21199

High School: 3

Primary School: 7 (Gvt.)

Madrasa: 3

Mosque: 54

Temple: 10

Hat & Bazar: 3

Bank: 2

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Railway: 4.10 km

River: 3.50 km

FIG: Visiting Puranpoil Union Parishad

Weather

Annual average temperature maximum 34.6 degree, minimum 11.9 degree Celsius, annual

rainfall is 1610 mm. As we were present there during the winter we have witnessed the cold

weather of the area. The following picture represents a foggy evening of Joypurhat.

FIG: A cold evening

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Geographical Features

Joypurhat sugar mills limited is the largest autonomous sugar mill of country. ‘Pagla Dewan

boddhovumi’ is a country's important monument. In the Belamla village there are historical

"barashibalaya temple" and "akshibalaya temple". Both are famous historical place. ‘Shahid

doctor Abul Kasem Maidan’ is the main point of this upazilla. The central shahid minar of

Joypurahat district is situated here.

FIG: Baroshibaloy Temple

FIG: Sugar mill

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Demography

To know more about more about the demography of Joypurhat we went to Puranpoil Union.

From there we find out the following information-

Population

Total Population- 844818

Male 51.03%

Female 48.97%

Religion

Muslim 88.18%

Hindu 9.57%

Tribes and others 2.25%

Ethnic nationals: Santal, Orao, Munda, Mahali, Koch, Pahan, Buna, Ho, Mahato, Rajbangshi

and Koch are noted tribe.

Social Structure

Average literacy 19.8%; Male 27.4% and female 11.8%.

Main occupations of this district are, Agriculture 53.33%, agricultural laborer 24.85%, wage

laborer 1.66%, commerce 9.95%, service 4.39%, transport 1.38%, others 7.44%. Among the

peasants 11% are landless, 53.5% small, 21.8% intermediate and 13.7 rich; cultivable land per

head 0.09 hectares.

Cultural Organizations

Library-7

Club-224

Cinema hall-15

Women’s organization-75

Theatre group-5

Literary society-8

Co-operative society-36

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Economy

Products

Joypurhat’s economy depends on agriculture. The goods sold on the market are mainly agro

goods. The main transaction of those agricultural goods occurs on Haat days. The farmers takes

there commodity there during the Haat days the wholesalers, dealers and suppliers form the

nearby district as well as the different part of the country gathers there to buy the goods. The

main products Joypurhat produce are Paddy, Potato, Sugarcane, Banana, Jute, Turmeric, Mustard

seed and vegetables.

FIG: Paddy FIG: Sugarcane

Main occupation is Agriculture 53.33%, agricultural laborer 24.85%, wage laborer 1.66%,

commerce 9.95%, service 4.39%, transport 1.38% others 7.44%.

Haat Bazar

In Joypurhat there are about 92 Haat and Bazars.

Consumers

There are two types of Consumers of Hats and Bazars, Local

Consumers and Wholesalers. The wholesalers buy the

products from the local market and sell the products in

farther markets.

FIG: Consumer

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Agriculture

Main crops Paddy, potato, sugarcane, banana, jute, turmeric, mustard seed and vegetables.

As large part of total population of Jaipurhat depends on agricultural activity, and the district has

favorable condition in cultivating various crops, Jaipurhat normally doesn’t import any crops

mainly. It imports few crops such as carrots, tomatoes, betel leaf, etc. in a very small quantity.

Most of the crops in the district is harvested locally here in Jaipurhat.

Jaipurhat mainly exports sugar and jute.

FIG: Potato in the local market FIG: Commonly produced vegetable (Brinjal)

Inputs:

FIG: Cultivating paddy

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Chain

FIG: Flow Chart of Agricultural products

FIG: Mustered Crop

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Culture

Family

Majority of the families in Joypurhat are nuclear families

where husband and wife live with their children (every

household head for his/her family). This kind of situation

regarding family is mostly experienced in the district.

Joint family in true sense is hardly found here.

FIG: One village family

Food

People of this district have the opportunity of eating fresh

foods; they can directly get rice, onion, potato and other

vegetables from the agricultural land.

FIG: Food

Marriage

Monogamy is major marital scene in Joypurhat. Hardly

any type of polygamous family is found here.

FIG: A village marriage ceremony

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LFE IN ACTION

Day-1: (02/01/20013)

We total 70 students from different schools and desciplines grouped together in the section 5

under the guidance of three respective teachers namely Mr. Mohammad Abdul Baten (SESM),

Mr.Abul Khair Jyote (SB) and Ms. Kazi Sanzida Lisa (SESM) with four monitors.Teachers,

Monitors and students altogether 76 peoples have started the journey with two buses at exactly 9:30 am. Destination: Joypurhat TMSS.

FIG: Departing time at University and in bus

We arrived Joypurhat at 5:30 pm and after that we had our orientation session.

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Day-2(03/01/2013)

We, all the students were divided into three major groups named as Padma, Meghna and Jamuna

to collect data and conduct Health and Socio economic survey. We were the member of Meghna

1. And we all were assigned in specific village to collect sample.

We went to Karim Nagar village for listing purpose. At the very first day we met with a little

village girl named ‘Nuri’ who became our friend within a short time.

FIG: With a village girl Nuri

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Day-3 (04/01/2013)

It was Friday.There were no field work that day. We went for a Study trip to Bogra. We visited 5

places there. These are- “Spices Research Center”, “Protnotattik Museum”, “Bogra TMSS”,

“Behula Lokkhindr’s Bashor Ghor” and “Nandail Dighi”

At Spices Research Centre:

FIG: Front gate of the center FIG: A Field while watering

FIG: Two types of threes for research

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At Protnotattik Jadughor , Mohasthangarh:

FIG: Front gate of the Museum FIG: An ancient sculpture

At Behula’r Bashorghor:

FIG: The centre point of “the Bashor Ghor” FIG: Nandail Dighi

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Day-4(05/01/2013)

We went for Data Collection again and from today we started our household survey. About 20

household’s information we collected in the beginning. The survey was so challenging as we did

not have this kind of opportunity before. But, through the survey we experienced different

aspects of people’s life.

FIG: We noticed village people use tractors for their various purposes.

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Day-5(06/01/20013)

We got a day off today due to Hartal. But as our faculty

decided to visit the nearest village, we started by

walking to that village named ‘Shempur’. We walked

almost 4-5 kilometers. We enjoyed a lot there and

played as we loved to play. Boys choose to play cricket

and girls played ‘Mangsho Chor.

FIG: Made ‘IUB’ out of the students

FIG: Girls and Boys were playing

FIG: Took Van as transport for returning TMSS

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Pitha Utshob:

The same day we observed ‘Pitha Utshob’ from the evening to till midnight.

FIG: Pitha Uthsob

FIG: Making Vapa Pitha till midnight

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Day-6 (07/01/2013)

Went for Data Collection for three households.

FIG: Livestock

Day-7 (08/01/2013)

Went for Data Collection again for three more households.

FIG: Met two senior village people

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Day-8 (09/01/2013)

We visited the rural market.

FIG: Two typical women selling their products

DEVELOPED A “RURAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN” AND BEING PRESENTED

FIG: Rural Development Plan

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Day-9 (10/01/2013)

Cross Visit for Data Collection

Cross checking is a process of checking the map drawn by the villager, whether they drew the

correct map or not. Thus to verify whether there is any mistake or not, the PRA team has to go

and take a walk around the village to find out whether the map drawn is accurate or has a

problem. After the completion of the village map, we took a walk around the village for

crosschecking whether the information provided by the villagers in the village map is correct or

not.

Approved the Social Map

FIG: The Social Map of “Karim Nagar”

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Day-10 (11/01/2013)

Second study trip: Visited “Paharpur” and “Shisu Uddan”

FIG: Two random pic of Paharpur

FIG: Front gate of Shisu Uddan

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Day-11 (12/01/2013)

Time for shopping at Hili

Gandhi River on the way of Hili

Gala Night

FIG: Gandhi River FIG: One performance at Gala Night

FIG: Kobita abbriti “NARI” by Our Sir

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Day-12 (13/01/2013)

We ended up our gala night at 6 am with lots of happiness, somewhere there was a feeling in all

of us that we were going to detached from our LFE family. At 9.30 am we started our journey to

come back home and reached in Dhaka at 8 pm.

FIG: On our way to Dhaka at bus. Was so tired but there

were so many memories we were bringing with us.

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Conclusion

Thus we enjoyed the most memorable moments, experiences and learning knowledge throughout

the journey o LFE. The practical knowledge that we get from this course is really helpful for us

and for our future as well. We are truly thankful to our honorable coordinators, our monitors and

friends to make this course the best one.

And a very special thanks to our ‘Joypurhat TMSS Group’

From

Sheikh Mohammad Mustafa- 1020056

Syeda Nafisa Noor- 1020629

LFE (Live in Field Experience) of IUB

Education

syeda nafisa

kazi sanzida

abul khair

sheikh mohammad

rural development

socio economic

karim nagar

gala night