Many of these children are fatherless or motherless or totally parentless and their guardians are employed in jobs like housemaid, day labourer, rickshaw-van puller, street hawker, and embroiderer among others.
The COVID-19 situation has put many of these families into utter destitution, said the media release.
While GS employees started the programme on their own, Grameen Kalyan (Grameen Welfare), one of the flag bearers of Grameen welfare activities, came forward to financially support it.
Besides, GS employees are supporting 49 poor, orphan and destitute people in Madhabpur area of Singair, where Shikkha is conducting some pre-schools, under the emergency food supply program.
Shikkha is not organising any publicity programme for distribution of food, it is arranging to send the food directly to the doorsteps of the beneficiaries.
Grameen Shikkha distributing food among extreme poor
Grameen Shikkha (Grameen Education), one of the organisations in the Grameen family, has identified 163 families with 815 members and arranging emergency food support for them for three months.
The ideal food package comprises 7kg rice, 1kg lentil, 1litre cooking oil, 5kg potatoes and a piece of bath soap for a week, said a media release.
GS has been conducting different development programmes for the poor, especially poor children and students for more than two decades. Its programmes have directly benefited more than 360,000 people.
One of the programmes of Shikkha is the non-formal primary school programmes, popularly called as “Slum School,” conducted in the slums of Mirpur 10, 11, 12 and 13.
There are 39 such schools, which are providing five years primary education to nearly 1,500 poor, slum children.