Photo of the week: letters from Bangladesh

This week’s photo of the week comes from a teacher in Bangladesh who wrote to us about ActionAid’s assistance with preparing a school curriculum.

Dear Friend,
Thanks to your support of ActionAid and The Next Step in Bangladesh, I am now able to give pre-school children a quality education.

My name is Sagarika Saha. I teach pre-school children aged four to six at an ActionAid Child Centre in Angaria village (District of Manikganj, central Bangladesh). Until recently, there were no specific guidelines for running pre-schools and we teachers did not know the best way to teach these young children and prepare them for primary school.

A student arrives at the school in central Bangladesh

But in 2006, ActionAid prepared and published a pre-school curriculum. They also prepared a manual for pre-school teachers. The manual was very helpful for me to learn how to teach children properly.

I am very happy with the pre-school curriculum. It is well organised, and covers the most essential subjects for children, like poems in their local language [Bangla], basic Bangla, basic English, mathematics, and social sciences. It also includes the importance of sports, exercise, and play.

I started to use the new curriculum in 2007 and I have seen great changes in the quality of education our pre-school children receive. So far, the new pre-school curriculum is used in six ActionAid Child Centres, benefiting 158 children.

In my classes, the children’s response to the new curriculum is very encouraging. They like it very much. As the curriculum was developed to teach children through fun activities and to learn drawing, singing and dancing, the children are enjoying their classes very much.

I have noticed that the children who have now gone to primary school, after receiving the new pre-school curriculum, are sharper than other students, and are doing well in their studies. They are good in subjects like Bangla, English and Mathematics. They also do well at drawing and cultural activities.

One of these children is Maria. She came to the pre-school for two years before going to primary school in 2008. The headmistress of her school says she is one of the brilliant students at the school thanks to the pre-school curriculum. She is studying in grade three, and getting very good marks in her exams. Her parents are very happy to see her studying so well, and we are all very proud of her.

It is thanks to kind people like you that we are now able to give our children the best start in life. The pre-school curriculum devised by ActionAid is very important for early childhood development and gives these children a good start in their education.

On behalf of children like Maria and pre-school teachers like myself, I thank you for your generosity and support of The Next Step in Bangladesh.

Best Regards
Sagarika