Brac Kumon Limited and Ekmattra Society signed an agreement on Tuesday to offer the Kumon Program to Ekmattra-Dutch-Bangla Bank Academy students.
The signatories of the agreement were Lady Syeda Sarwat Abed, managing director of Brac Kumon Ltd and Shubhashish Roy, executive director of Ekmattra Society, according to a press release.
Tomohide Ichiguchi, chief representative of JICA Bangladesh Office, Yuji Ando, country representative of JETRO Dhaka Office, Hiroki Watanabe, managing director of Ekmattra Entrepreneurs Ltd and Nehal Bin Hasan, head of Brac Kumon Ltd, attended the event as special guests.
In August 2022, Brac Kumon Ltd and Ekmattra Society jointly came forward to make the Kumon Learning Method accessible to underprivileged children through the Ekmattra-Dutch Bangla Bank Academy.
Currently, 56 children of the academy are doing regular classes with immense excitement and joy.
CourtesyThe academy students who have been on the receiving end of the facilities provided by the pilot in-academy Kumon learning program have drastically improved their academic performance and willingness to learn, along with the cognitive and non-cognitive skills that they have gained from Kumon program.
Many of the students have personally testified to being more eager to study, being able to concentrate better, and willing to persevere through challenges, amongst other qualities that they have gained from the program.
Studying Kumon has boosted their confidence level, along with their inquisitive attitude toward learning. Students are solving their own problems within time by taking ownership. This has made a drastic positive impact on their time management skills too.
During the event, the Chief Representative of JICA Bangladesh Office Tomohide Ichiguchi stated: “The agreement between Brac Kumon Ltd and Ekmattra will help the next generation of children to develop their learning habits to international standards.”
Brac and Kumon's partnership has been a stepping stone toward spreading quality education to children in every corner of the country. By having access to an international learning method like Kumon, students of Bangladesh go on to maximize their potential and become on par with international education standards.
Appreciating the franchise initiative of Brac Kumon Ltd, the Country Representative of JETRO Dhaka Office Yuji Ando quoted: “It's amazing to see how Brac Kumon is working towards creating more female entrepreneurs in Bangladesh.”
Additionally, the ICT Division of the Government of People's Republic of Bangladesh is currently providing unparalleled assistance in order to make Kumon accessible nationwide through Sheikh Russel School of Future in over 300 public schools.
Ekmattra Society, established in 2003, aims to build a discrimination-free world for underprivileged children by supporting and internalizing pro-children policies, so that the children may make meaningful contributions to society in the future.
Ekmattra-Dutch-Bangla Bank Academy was inaugurated in 2018 with the goal to accommodate the underprivileged and street children of Bangladesh in an environment where they will find all the facilities to grow as skillful and intellectual human beings.
On the other hand, Kumon currently hosts over 3.62 million students internationally in 62 counties.
Sir Fazle Hasan Abed dreamt to make the Kumon program accessible to students regardless of social standing and educational background in order to help reduce the existing disparity in the quality of education that exists across the country.
As a result, Brac conducted a pre-pilot program in 2014, a research to test the effectiveness of Kumon Method with respect to the Bangladeshi curriculum.
The research was initially done by the University of Tokyo in collaboration with the Brac Education Program (BEP) and JICA. With positive results from the research, Brac Kumon started their maiden voyage in Bangladesh in September 2017 in Dhanmondi, as the very first Kumon Centre.
After six years, Brac Kumon Ltd currently has eight Kumon centres throughout Dhaka city where students are independently learning and have stronger abilities to learn new things.
