Adviser Rizwana inaugurates Ananda Academy for Performing Arts
Syeda Rizwana Hasan, adviser to the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, inaugurated the newly established project "Ananda Academy for Performing Arts (AAPA)" of Social Services and Management Trust (SSMT) today (15 February).
SSMT was established in 1995 by the founder-members A. S. M. O. Sobhan, M. Harunur Rashid, Shafat Ahmed Chowdhury, Yasmin Murshed and Mansur Ahmed Choudhuri, said a press release.
It is a registered non-profit charitable organisation whose main objectives are to establish and operate schools, colleges, hospitals, charitable institutions, research and training centers, etc. for the socio-economic development of Bangladesh.
SSMT is governed by an independent Board of Trustees. The current members of the Board of Trustees are: Nasreen Subhan(Chairman), Mansur Ahmed Choudhuri (Trustee and Secretary), Kanak Chanpa Chakma (Trustee), Barrister Rehan Hussain (Trustee), Dr. S. M. Akbar (Trustee) and A. F. Nesar Uddan - Chartered Accountant (Trustee).
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In 1995, SSMT established a high-quality English medium school in Dhaka named 'Sir John Wilson School', which was run by a qualified British principal. Since 1999, SSMT has been donating a portion of the profits from the school to IMPACT Foundation, Bangladesh's 'Jibon Tori'. The donation started with Tk50,000 per month and by 2024, it had increased to Tk4.5 lakh per month. In 2024, SSMT donated Tk40 lakh for the construction of houses for flood victims. In 2022, it also started an old age home and a free Friday Clinic for the poor in Shahbazpur village of Brahmanbaria.
Recently, one of the projects under way by SSMT is to establish a teacher training institute for English medium school teachers in Dhaka in collaboration with Queen's University, Canada (Toronto). This will be a nine-month diploma course and the diploma certificate will be awarded by Queen's University.
The aim is to provide a venue to teach and nurture art and culture in the Gulshan, Banani and Baridhara regions. Therefore, the SSMT has recently started operating a performing arts center named AAPA in its own building in J Block, Baridhara, which is run under the direct supervision of well-known personalities from the fields of art, literature and cultural life of the country.
