Bangladesh’s Rikta Akter Banu on BBC 100 Women list

Rikta Akter Banu, from Chilmari upazila of Kurigram, has appeared in the BBC 100 Women 2024.

The BBC revealed the list of 100 inspiring and influential women from around the world for 2024 on Wednesday.

BBC named the 100 women in five categories. These are: Climate Pioneers; Culture and Education; Entertainment and Sport; Politics and Advocacy and Science, Health & Tech.

Rikta Akter Banu was included in Science, Health & Tech category.

Among them are stranded astronaut Sunita Williams, rape survivor Gisèle Pelicot, actress Sharon Stone, Olympic athletes Rebeca Andrade and Allyson Felix, singer Raye, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Nadia Murad, visual artist Tracey Emin, climate campaigner Adenike Oladosu and writer Cristina Rivera Garza.

Rikta Akter Banu is a nurse and school founder.

BBC said, in the remote area of northern Bangladesh where nurse Rikta Akter Banu lives, having an autistic or disabled child is seen as a curse. When her own daughter, who is autistic and has cerebral palsy, was refused admission to their local primary school, she sold her land and built her own school instead.

The Rikta Akhter Banu Learning Disability School now enrols 300 students and has made a positive impact on the community’s views around disability. While the school was initially built for children who are autistic or have a learning disability, it now caters for young students with a variety of intellectual and physical disabilities, according to BBC.