Education
BRAC Annual Report 2009 23
in indigenous mother tongues. Our pre-primary programmes help school readiness, attendance and retention of young children, especially from very poor families with mostly illiterate parents. One year of pre-schooling, with hands-on participatory teaching and learning, familiarises children (aged 5+) with the alphabet and numbers and prepares them for formal primary education. A pre-primary education yields benefits far beyond increased school enrolment, attendance, retention and results at the primary level - 99% of the children who enter the BRAC pre-primary programme go on to mainstream primary schools and continue to outperform their peers. Our teachers are from the communities in which the schools are located. They are usually young, married housewives with grade 10 education who can devote a few hours a day to teaching. In return, they receive an honorarium, monthly refresher training and, most importantly, respect and standing in their communities. Inclusive Education Key to our approach is the elimination of discrimination against children with special needs. Our inclusive education policy, designed by staff with specialised training, ensures that these children participate in mainstream education. We created a unit in 2003 to identify ways in which children with special needs can be integrated in the BRAC schools. We provide corrective surgeries, along with devices like wheelchairs, crutches, hearing aids, glasses and ramps to classrooms to make schools more accessible to physicallychallenged children. We have adopted classroom policies, like sitting in front, studying in pairs and highlighting special needs issues in textbooks to raise awareness of classmates and teachers. Our current focus is on expanding the range of disabilities that teachers can handle and on improving the quality of education disabled children receive in schools. In 2009 we provided schooling and services to 53,436 children with mild and moderate disabilities. Impact Our approach helps attract more children to enrol and take interest in learning, with more than 95% staying on to finish school. Nearly 97% of our primary graduates continue their studies in regular secondary schools, which led us to design student-friendly teaching methods and materials, as well as teachers’ training to improve the quality of secondary education. As our schoolteachers enjoy improved status in their communities, families feel encouraged about sending their daughters to school. Girls now account for 60–65% of all students. This has a profound effect on the wider community and society. Challenges – Maintaining standards and coverage despite a 50 percent rise in costs – Retaining our graduates in the mainstream system – Improving performance of poor rural secondary schools
Above Girls reading at leisure at an adolescent club in a village in Kapasia district. Left A Chakma girl studying in her mother-tongue at a primary school in Rangamati.
Education for Ethnic Children (EEC) Learning is most effective in one’s mother tongue. Children from ethnic minority groups fall behind or drop out as they do not speak Bengali, the national language and medium of instruction in mainstream schools. BRAC started the EEC initiative in 2001 to adapt Bengali materials and develop teaching methods for ethnic children. Local teachers explain lessons in their native languages alongside Bengali. In 2008 we started a pilot in the Chittagong Hill Tracts to produce educational materials in the Chakma script with the support of the community. We have produced materials for preprimary through grade 2 with plans for grade 5. We also plan to develop teaching-learning materials for other ethnic minorities that have their own scripts. Mother tongue learning helps ethnic children to overcome language barriers and cultural gaps and become more spontaneous and participatory in class – which translates into improved enrolment, retention and pass rates. We operate 2,015 EEC schools with more than 49,000 children from 42 ethnic communities in the north, northeast and southeast of Bangladesh.