Sylhet Bureau

Ms. Sarah Cooke, British High Commissioner to Bangladesh has visited BRAC School in Sylhet on Wednesday.

She visited Sylhet for the first time as a part of her mission and visited Lakkatura BRAC School beside Lakkatura Tea Garden in the City.

During the visit, officials from The British High Commission accompanied The High Commissioner while Safi Rahman Khan, (Director, Education, Skills Development, and Migration), Profulla Chandra Barman (Programme Head, BRAC Education Programme) along with head office and field staff were present from BRAC.

The High Commissioner observed the class in the BRAC School and talked to the students about their experiences and feeling regarding getting back to school. Ms. Cooke shared her greeting with the teacher, staff, parents, and School Management Committee members and discussed about the ongoing activities of the school.

Ms. Sarah Cooke expressed her contentment saying, “It was great to meet with the students at their school and their parents who work at the tea plantations in Sylhet. It was clear to see that education is transformative not just for the individual but for the community. The UK is proud to support education for the most disadvantaged children in Bangladesh, with a particular focus on girls.”

Safi Rahman Khan from BRAC conveyed his greetings to The High Commissioner and said “We are honoured to have welcomed Her Excellency Sarah Cooke to BRAC's education programme in the tea gardens of Sylhet to see first-hand the important work we are doing in partnership with UK Government.

All of us in the education sector have a responsibility to ensure that children living in poverty, particularly girls and children with disabilities, are not excluded from their right to education. Our accelerated schools are already delivering significant benefits, and Ms Cooke's visit will inspire and motivate our students, teachers, parents, and staff.”

Because of the unprecedented outbreak of COVID-19, all the schools in Bangladesh were forced to shut down for 18 months and traditional classroom teaching-learning came to a halt.

The prolonged shutdown caused significant learning losses for the children who faced the risk of dropping out and swelled the ranks of the already sizable community of students who are not in school (OoSC). Supported by The UK Government, "Educate the Most Disadvantaged Children in Bangladesh (EMDC)" project of BRAC Education Programme (BEP) is providing expedited primary education to Out-of-School children from disadvantaged communities.

The project's accelerated Model includes a 4-month catch-up component (the Bridge course) to recover previous learning, followed by a 6-month accelerated course with grade-specific learning, following which students transition to formal schools in the next grade.

The EMDC project is in its 2nd year and already more than 16000 students have completed the accelerated course from 650 BRAC Schools and 12500 more students are currently enrolled in 500 more BRAC schools. It is estimated that over the project’s lifetime, 147,500 out-of-school children will receive an accelerated model education for 10 months in about 5,900 one-room schools.