Ananya honours 10 women

Nazia Jabin has long been working for the education of visually impaired children through this publication Sporsho that produces braille books.

Today Nazia's name came up on a list of 10 women who were honoured by a fortnightly magazine, Ananya. She is among the winners of annual 'Ananya Shirsha Dosh' awards for their outstanding contributions to different fields.

Nazia lost his all family members in a road accident in 1990. Her mother Nurunnahar Fiajan Nesa was an academic, social worker, sportswoman and organiser while his father Syed Maksud Ali was the dean of then Dhaka University's Social Science Faculty.

One of her family members also sustained severe eye injuries that eventually inspired her to work for the education of people with blindness. She published the first braille book for children titled 'Chhorar Tale Monta Dhole' in 2009 from her publication house - Sporsho. Since then Sporsho published as many as 61 books in braille system.

"The journey would not be smooth if my husband did not help me. All of my family members supported me in the initial stage," Nazia Jabin said while receiving the award.

The awards were handed over to the winners at a function at the Bangla Academy on Saturday with Jahangirnagar University vice chancellor Farzana Islam attending as chief guest.

The other award recipients are: Mosammat Nazmanara Kanum (administration), Farjana Chowdhury (women entrepreneur), Nabonita Chowdhury (journalism), Swapna Rani (self-sufficiency of rural women), Nadira Khanom (rights worker), Mahfuza Aktar Kiron (sport organiser), Prof Sadeka Halim (education), Sharmin Sultana (music) and Maria Manda (sports).

Nazia Jabin got the accolade in social work category.

The magazine has been awarding the successful women since 1993.