EDUCATIE IN AFGELEGEN GEBIED BANGLADESH
In 2019 hebben we ervoor kunnen zorgen dat in Bangladesh 60 kinderen basisonderwijs konden volgen. Het doel van het Friendship Primary Education-programma is het verbeteren van de toegang tot inclusief en rechtvaardig kwalitatief basisonderwijs voor kinderen in ontoegankelijke gebieden.
Deze update ontvingen wij vanuit Bangladesh:
Primary Education Completion (PEC) Exam Result
434 primary school students (Girls- 239 and Boys- 195) appeared in PEC exam in November this year. Friendship schools pass rate is 100% as against the national rate of 95.50%.
It is worth to mention here that 177 Friendship school students secured A+ Grade (41%) as against national average of 12.5% in A+ Grade. Among 434 PEC graduates, all but one girl (got married) are admitted in secondary schools (226 in 13 Friendship secondary schools and remaining 207 got admitted in other schools).
- The education programme also encourages government officials to visit and monitor the schools. During the reporting period, 6 such visits were conducted. The students were also provided with national curriculum textbooks from Government Education department from the first day of academic year.
- Friendship students continued its special activities such as, preparation of wall magazines, carrying out listen to learn (L2L) exercises, implementation of “Clean School Clean Home” programme in this reporting period. Inspired by the innovative activities of Friendship education programme, 2 government primary schools have adopted the wall magazine initiative of Friendship. Moreover, during the reporting period, informal discussions were also made with 6 government primary schools to include “Clean School Clean Home” initiative in the government schools.
- Friendship students with the assistance from Inclusive Citizenship sector, were also exposed to the knowledge on rights to education and lives.
With this activity, Friendship is laying the foundation for ethical values to make the children to be responsive citizen. - Practicing the defined code of ethics is an inherent culture within Friendship and the same has been inculcated in all primary schools. From January to December, 2019 the codes specifically taught and practiced were (corresponding month shown against each): Compassion (January), Confidence (February), Courage (March), Rights (April), Empathy (May) and Honesty (June), Patience (July), Justice (August), Tolerance (September), Dignity (October), Humility (November) and Commitment (December).
Monitoring and Follow-up
To ensure the quality of the programme, regular monitoring and evaluation visits as well as follow-up sessions were conducted throughout the reporting period. Monthly plans were made for each month with specific achievement targets. During the reporting period, a total of 3361 monitoring and supervision visits have been conducted by the project staffs. In addition, a total of 18 visits were made by Head Office officials and a total of 14 visits were made by Donors and externals.
During the visits, lesson plans, teacher and student attendance, method of instruction, extracurricular activities and school management system were regularly checked. The Staffs used a supervision checklist to record the progress of the schools on a regular basis. Teachers were supported by the supervisors to identify weak students to improve their academic performance.
The parents were also kept informed on the progress of the child’s education and persuaded to keep track of their studies. Community has also been actively involved in the management of the schools. SMC (School Management Committee) members, parents and community people ensured children’s regular attendance, provided land for school, fenced the garden and took care of the school asset. The parents also took part in the regular meeting before the terminal final exams and made sure that the students were well prepared for the exams. During the devastating flood of June/July 2019, community people came forward to rescue the school assets. They also helped students to attend school safely during the flood.
Follow-up
The progress and achievements of the programme were constantly assessed by Friendship Education staff. The gaps and weakness were analysed monthly and subsequent actions are taken to improve the weak areas.