By Ishrat Jahan | Development and Communication Officer
Considering the probable threat of the seconds wave The Bangladesh Government has decided to automatically promote everyone to the next grade. Shishutirtha School taking the global threat in consideration is fully complying with the Government decision. In addition the school is conducting a gross assessment to serve as a motivating factor for the students. That is why they came up with the idea of at home examinations. Their parents were instructed on how to guide the students during the exams and also conducting overall supervision. Since the students will be automatically promoted this was merely an informal procedure to measure how well the students are learning in these unprecedented times with a new approach to teaching.
We have also started the procedure of distributing new books among the students. The parents come on different appointed times to collect these books following COVID-19 guidelines. The core books are provided by the government for free. But the students will still need educational materials such as notebooks, stationary items and most importantly school uniforms and winter clothes. A significant number of students of Shishutirtha School belong to financially vulnerable families and cannot afford most of these things. Due to the pandemic some people who were able to afford these items before are currently struggling financially as well. Keeping these aspects in mind, with the support received from GlobalGiving and Uttaran’s own crowd funding initiative underprivileged students will be provided with education materials and winter clothes. We believe all children are precious. No children should feel out of place or upset just because their friends have new uniforms or notebooks whereas they do not. Therefore, we hope with our effort we will put a smile on all the children’s faces and not let the harsh reality of the world to undermine their happiness.
The students of Samakal School are also being automatically promoted to the next grade according to the decision of the Government. But for the students belonging to grade 6,7,8 and 9 the teachers are instructed to provide multiple home assignments to the students by the Government. For one particular subject they might have up to three assignments. This assessment phase will be conducted for a span of six weeks and students will get their previous checked copies before a new assignment is given. This will help them to learn from their mistakes and not repeat them in the next exams. The Government has mentioned in the guidelines that the parents would come to the school to submit and later take back these assignments. The assignment topics are also set by the government and questions are creative enough for this type of open book exams. The students have so far shown their unique critical thinking through these assignments and we are quite happy with their progress so far.
From January, new classes will resume following the final decision of the Government. We hope, for the sake of our students that the situation will improve soon enough so that they can return to their normal childhood and keep making wonderful memories with their friends.
Case Study
‘When my school closed down due to the pandemic I was devastated. In rural areas like where I live students often drop out of school after study breaks because of various circumstantial reasons. The pressure is even higher for girls. I myself have always been an attentive student and to be honest, going to school was my favourite part of the day. That was when I could feel I was involved in something important and that my dreams would one day come true. So, the sudden uncertain situation hit me hard and I felt demotivated. The day I heard that our teachers are introducing online classes through the Facebook live option I was ecstatic. Now I use my father’s mobile phone and can do my classes from home. It is not the same as going to the school but it is still immensely helping me to keep up my spirit and stay positive.’ A grade six student of Samakal School
By Ishrat Jahan Nawshin | Development & Communication Officer
By Zahid Amin Shashoto | Program officer
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.
