Mr. Fred Hyde, a pioneer of Bangladeshi primary education, passed away at about 10 a.m. local time in his hometown in Warwick, Queensland, Australia on Tuesday.
He was 96.
He was suffering from cancer. Mr. Hyde, a Second World War veteran from Australia, worked at Charfasson orphanage as director, before he began setting up primary schools in Charfassion Upazilla of Bhola soon after the devastating cyclone of 1970 that had left trail of devastation in that area.
Fred commonly spent most of his year in Bhola, sometimes not returning to Australia for over a year. His contributions in the upazilla is huge, with the organization having 41 schools, 7 kindergartens and over 13,000 children in full time education. The charity, Co-operation in Development (Co-ID) is run by a Bangladeshi staff of 180, and headed by a management committee of 15 volunteers in Australia, three of whom are Bangladesh-born.
The man the locals fondly refer to as “Hyde Shaheb” put his own distinctive print onto the organization. He grew up in the great depression and ran the charity as if money was always short, never paying a wage to himself and paying many of the organisation’s expenses himself.
“He was one of Australia’s greatest men, having fought on the devastating battles of New England, and taking that same courage to Bangladesh and fighting against poverty there,” said chair of the management committee of Co-ID, Dr Olav Muurlink.
” He created a unique fundraising system, whereby most of the funds for the schools in Bhola came from school children in Australia,” said Dr Muurlink, “and he never forgot that it was children’s money he was spending.”
His funeral will be held in Warwick on November 7.
