Pilot research project looking into why marginalised native communities suffer within the Sylhet region. May 2015
Future Voices International in partnership with Shahjalal University of Science & Technology (SUST). Lead Professor Dr Tulshi Kumar Das of development studies selected five MA level graduates from SUST to assist within this project and gain a invaluable insight into professional practices of pilot research.
Social segregation of tea estate communities is a common practise faced here in the Sylhet region. This deprives the tea estate workers opportunities and traps them into a cycle of life they were often born into with little prospect to enter other fields of work or living settlements.
This affects not only the workers but also the families and children of the workers. These children are deprived an education in local mainstream schools due to their ‘belonging’ to the tea estates. This is coupled with the low level of awareness in the importance of education among the community as they feel it can’t help them escape this form of life.
This Unspoken World project attempts to look at methods we can break cultural norms in an attempt to improve social integration and ease the stigma faced by communities wishing to coincide together with the greater Sylhet community.
The project was an initial look into the issues faced by these communities and in the near future we wish to create a series of collaborative workshops between tea estate and wider Sylhet communities in an attempt to break down divides and improve social cohesion.
Coming soon you will be able to see a sample of what is to come and the stories that need sharing with a wider and global audience. This is a tiny part of a social documentary we wish to make on the subject and use it as a educational tool within the region.