Sharmistha Maitra

Sharmistha (16) grew up in Bangladesh, where she saw firsthand the gap between her own access to education and the reality faced by street children forced into child labor instead of classrooms. Watching children her own age working in markets, streets, and construction sites instead of learning left a lasting impression and pushed her to act.

Sharmistha has taken hands-on steps to change this. She organized community awareness campaigns highlighting the harms of child labor and the importance of education. She launched an informal street tutoring initiative, teaching basic reading, writing, and math to underprivileged children to help them catch up and encourage school enrollment. She also collected and distributed notebooks, pencils, and storybooks to children who lacked basic learning tools, and mobilized fellow students to volunteer as tutors, building a youth-led support network for children’s rights.

Through this mix of direct teaching, resource sharing, and community outreach, Sharmistha has reached and positively impacted over 500 underprivileged children and their families—giving them both practical support and the motivation to pursue better opportunities.