DHAKA, Oct. 16 (Xinhua) -- It is a truism that the best way to solve poverty is through education.

And this precisely the philosophy behind the Under Privileged Children's Education Programs (UCEP)-Bangladesh, a leading non- government organization in Bangladesh that has for decades strived to provide education to poor children of the country.

The UCEP- Bangladesh was founded by Lindsay Allan Cheyne, a New Zealand philanthropist who came to Bangladesh on a British relief mission in 1970 to run a mother and child health clinic for millions of tornado-hit families in the southeastern part of the country.

Cheyne had just completed establishing the clinic when the 1971 war of independence broke out and Bangladesh was born. The destruction in the wake of the tornado paled in comparison to the tragedy of human misery left by the war, and the newborn nation faced greater crisis than before.

Along with his relief operation duties, Cheyne worked with the Bangladesh's Directorate of Social Welfare in planning an educational program for the country's underprivileged and homeless children.

Starting in 1972 on the premises of Dhaka University, the largest public university in Bangladesh, with only 60 students, Cheyne's UCEP-Bangladesh is now a hub of over 45,000 poor children who either did not enroll in school or dropped out before completing their primary education.

The school that Cheyne founded has continued to operate even after his death on Sept. 15, 1986.

The UCEP strives hard to train students in marketable skills in close collaboration with industries and employers throughout Bangladesh.

"We work for the social and economic upliftment of the poor children of Bangladesh so that they will become responsible citizens," Aftab Uddin Ahmad, executive director of UCEP- Bangladesh, told Xinhua recently in an interview.

Ahmad, a retired Brigadier General of Bangladesh Army, said the main objective of UCEP programs is to improve the socio-economic well-being of the urban poor and support industrial growth by generating skilled manpower.

"In Bangladesh, there are about eight million working children throughout the country. And there are thousands of dropouts from schools due to poverty. UCEP is working to eliminate child labor basically and help them get employment," Ahmad said.

"UCEP provides a package service of general education, technical training and job placement," Ahmad added.

UCEP's Integrated General and Vocational (IGV) schools follow the national curriculum up to grade eight in an abridged form, with each grade completed in six months instead of one year, the usual time required in formal schools.

The IGV education is followed by six months of pre-technical education as a preparation for entering the Technical Schools of UCEP.

Apart from the educational programs, UCEP also implements an advocacy program on child rights, which plays a significant role in making communities aware of issues relating to child rights and the importance and benefits of vocational education, Ahmad said.

UCEP currently operates 52 IGV schools and 10 technical schools with a spectrum of 21 trades in seven metropolitan cities and towns in Bangladesh.

"They are also given education for financial management, sexual reproductive health and rights in our schools. And after completing their six months of preparatory stages, the students are brought into the technical schools where they are given technical trainings in about 21 kinds of trade," Ahmad said.

With its unique model of human resource development, UCEP plays a significant role in creating skilled manpower to eliminate poverty in the country and thus gained global recognition.

The UCEP has been listed twice in the United Nation ESCAP's " Compendium of Centers of Excellence in HRD Research and Training".

According to Ahmad, the UCEP is committed to push its education program to a new height of success. "In future, we have plans to enlarge the operations of UCEP schools, so that we can cover more and more children throughout Bangladesh," he said.