Reading Bangla

It is sad to see that many children in Bangladesh struggle to learn and communicate in Bangla. It is a puzzling situation that can be seen in urban and in rural areas as well as; and results in children not growing to love reading and learning, especially in Bangla. According to Ministry of Primary and Mass Education’s National Student Assessment 2013, 25 percent of students in grade three cannot read short, simple, mostly imaginative texts, locate and interpret directly stated information, identify correct word orders of simple sentences, identify the meaning and correct spelling of high frequency words, recognise correct use of some punctuation in Bangla. A research journal in Plos.org mentioned that approximately there are 8.5 million people in Bangladesh who use smartphones, and the number is increasing day by day. In July 2016, Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) stated that the total number of the country’s internet subscribers is 63.91 million; and among those users, 60.03 million people use internet services on their smartphones. The whole nation is pursuing the dream of Digital Bangladesh. The education sector, of course, is not lagging behind. But the issue of quality educational ICT materials and proper use of these materials to maximise its effectiveness is yet to be solved, especially in the primary education sector of Bangladesh. Interactive applications can turn smartphones into a smart learning device for children. Amplifying the use of interesting and child-friendly educational ICT materials, innovative reading and storytelling activities, and practice of learning from Android apps can be a solution that will achieve the objective of Digital Bangladesh agenda as well as ensure competency in literacy skills in Bangla. Furthermore, children in Bangladesh tend to spend a lot of time in browsing phones rather than any other devices to seek entertainment. Therefore, on International Literacy Day today, we may consider asking ourselves—shouldn’t we think about making the best use of ICT for early grade level children? Considering this READ project, implemented by Save the Children in Bangladesh and supported by United States Agency for International Development (USAID), has brought Digital Reading Hub (ict.readbangladesh.org) and three Android apps for children in grades one to three. This initiative has opened a window for early grade children and teachers to improve Bangla reading skills. Since its inception, READ project has been working on improving Bangla reading skills of early grade children in Bangladesh, and is trying to produce interactive reading materials that can motivate children to learn to read. This reading hub contains text-Book Based e-Content, approved by National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB), 169 supplementary reading materials or story books for children in Bangla, Chakma, Marma and Kokborak (Tripura) language, three interactive learning Android apps—and all these can be accessed and downloaded for free from ict.readbangladesh.org and Google Play Store. Government sources say that, in 2016, 19,067,761 children got enrolled in primary schools. READ’s interventions, especially the digital ‘Reading Hub’ can benefit all of them. Each content of the READ App consists of single or multiple games, which are not only fun and intercative, are effective for efficient learning for students. These NCTB approved e-Content have a phonetic guide, which was developed with the help of Bangla Academy. Apart from Bangladesh, Bangla speaking people from India, United Arab Emirates, United States, and Saudi Arabia have also downloaded READ Android Apps.