Following the long-term school closure, many students, especially students from low-income areas, are facing learning gaps. Many are struggling to cope up with regular classes and study.
A new learning resource module has been developed to address this challenge with the support of the Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education (DSHE), this module has been jointly developed by the international development organization Plan International Bangladesh and its implementing partner Surovi, revealed a press release issued on Wednesday.
Professor Nehal Ahmed, director general of DSHE launched the package as the chief guest at the launching event held on Wednesday at CIRDAP Auditorium in Dhaka.
This module will be used in Dhaka’s 22 high schools under the “Child Bride to Bookworm” project of Plan International Bangladesh with the aim to reduce the learning gaps of the students lagging behind.
Three subjects - Bangla, English and Math, have been included in this package.
In his speech Prof Nehal said: “Bangladesh Government has been working to reduce the learning gap derived from the Covid -19 pandemic. Through online education, we have worked to mitigate the challenge to a great extent but online classes are never an alternative to in-person classes. Long-term school closures created a number of challenges in front us and therefore, this flexible learning package can be an impactful initiative.”
He also urged to ensure wider distribution of “Gender Equity Movement in Schools (GEMS)” activities so that we can build a gender-inclusive education system.
Prof Md Shahedul Khabir Chowdhury, director (College and Admin) of DSHE, Professor Muhammad Belal Husain, director (Secondary) of DSHE, Prof Dr AQM Shafiul Azam, director (Planning and Development) of DSHE spoke as the special guests.
Jolly Nur Haque, director of Program Development and Learning of Plan International Bangladesh said: “Plan International Bangladesh has been working for children from marginalized and disadvantaged communities. The ‘Child Bride to Bookworm’ project is being implemented at 22 schools in Dhaka city’s low-income areas to reduce the risk of dropout, child marriage, and child labour among students. The learning package will support the teachers to identify the learning gaps of the students from previous classes and teach the classes accordingly.”
This resource pack aims to develop a resource pool by providing training to 257 teachers of the selected 22 secondary schools. Following the consultation workshop, this module will be finalized and sent to DSHE for approval.
Among others, Md Abu Taher, executive director of Surovi, Dr Ferdousi Begum lead-SRHR of Plan International Bangladesh, and Education Specialist Farzana Bari spoke.
Representatives from National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB), Government Teachers Training College, and secondary school teachers were present.