The Camellia Duncan Foundation School (CDFS) situated at the Lungla Tea estate of Duncan Brothers, Bangladesh was the brainchild of Mr P.A.Leggatt, the then Chairman of the Camellia group’s interests in Bangladesh and Mr Abu Subhan, the then Managing Director of Duncan Brothers. The school started operating in March 2004 in the renovated buildings of which was once the group’s central hospital but which was no longer in use as a more modern and larger hospital had been built in the neighbouring garden, Shumshernugger. The idea behind the school was to provide quality education to exclusively the workers’ children with possibilities. It is a residential school offering free tuition, free housing and board, books and a variety of extracurricular activities.

CDFS has set itself the task of educating the brighter children of workers, those that have the potential to do well under a good system of education with the rightly qualified teachers and the right number of working days - those who would have otherwise been denied the opportunity to expect a different and maybe a more rewarding life. CDFS in its 9 years of existence has not only succeeded in providing good teachers working within a proper established system; it has also established an environment for learning that few schools, even in the big cities, can match. Suffice it here to say that in the latest Secondary School Certificate (SSC) exams the students achieved 100% A grades!

CDFS is a high school starting at class 6 and going up to class 10, at the end of which the students sit for the SSC examinations. Depending on their results the students will then be assisted to go on to higher studies away from the gardens. The number of students in each class will not exceed 20. The Camellia Group through its interests in Bangladesh (Duncan Brothers) has contributed significantly, both in financial and physical terms, towards the establishment of the school. The school and its all its related facilities, including the dormitories, is a charity now run by the Abu Subhan Welfare Trust registered on June 4, 2011 as a Charitable Trust under the Bangladesh Act Trust 1882 and is also registered with the NGO Affairs Bureau under the Office of the Prime Minister, Government of Bangladesh. The trust is funded by the Camellia Foundation UK.