Gift of Education - Learning Can't Wait

Friendship’s Education Program

The Mission Statement in the strategic planning of Friendship for its Education Program is “To enable the children of the chars and coastal areas of Bangladesh to develop their potential through quality education, teaching them character building and awareness of their rights and obligations, and also to provide functional literacy for adolescents and adults”.

The program is currently implemented through 42 primary schools and 49 adult literacy centres in Gaibandha and Kurigram Districts in the North of Bangladesh.

Friendship is the only NGO that deliberately recruits teachers with below SSC (Secondary School Certificate exam in Bangladesh) qualification for its schools. Friendship recruits these teachers from the very communities in which the schools are located, as they already have rapport with the community and is likely to relocate with the same community in case of migration to a new area.

This recruitment mode has proved to be the only one by which student attendance can actually be ensured, as even qualified teachers recruited from outside the community cannot remedy the overwhelming absentee rates. Commendably, teachers recruited this way from within the communities have shown extraordinary performance upon receiving continuous training Friendship.

Considering the risk of the land being washed away, the schools are built with prefabricated materials so that they can be moved when the land begins to break away from the islands. In an environment where a child’s very home and everything he knows is washed away before his eyes, this ensures a feeling of security and reliance on her/his school. It also makes the programme cost effective in the long run.

Friendship endeavours to offer the best possible cost-effective education to the children and seeks to ensure maximum possible uniformity across the schools

Friendship’s intervention in Education at a glance

• Over the last 5 years of students taking the National Primary Education Completion examination, Friendship’s students have had a record of 100% pass-rate and approximately 90% of these students have passed with at least A- grade.
• Friendship’s Education Program is conducted in 42 underprivileged remote communities, host to a population of approximately 120,000 people.
• 3,419 children attend 42 Friendship primary schools.
• 20 adolescents and adults attend functional literacy classes in each adult literacy center.
• A total of 124 teachers, trained by Friendship, are employed in primary schools and adult literacy centers.
• 42 functional School Management Committees (SMCs) are in place.

Characteristics of the Primary Education Program

National Curriculum Exam

The National Primary Education Completion examination is the target which is set for the Friendship schools. Thus, all primary students need to take this National examination at the end of their 6^th year of schooling, i.e. after grade 5.

Friendship students showed extraordinary performance in Primary Education Completion Examination 2018, the national examination conducted for students across the country.

In 2018, most of the 1457 examinees showed extraordinary performance in the exam, with 99.79% receiving A+, A, and A- grades. The percentage of students receiving A+ (around 40.5%) is way higher than the national average. A+ is the highest possible grade attainable for the students appearing in this national exam.

This itself is a big achievement and when this is coupled with the fact that the students are from some of the most underprivileged regions of the country, where passing rate in PEC exam is below 60%. The effectiveness of the program becomes quite apparent from these numbers. In addition, around 9.8% of the appearing students have achieved government scholarship based on their merit, which is higher than the national average of around 2%.

Code of Ethics

In the Friendship primary education program, building the sense of ethics and citizen rights and responsibilities among students is given highest importance.

Code of ethics plays an important role in the education curriculum of Friendship as Friendship believes that its practice in any field of work and personal life plays a vital role in making people, especially children, better human beings and better citizens. Under the code of ethics:

-          One topic on ethics is selected every month and a visual is made by Friendship team to be shared among the teachers of the 42 schools. So far, the topics have included dignity, honesty, commitment, humility, etc. 

-          The teachers, after having the proper understanding of the topic, share it with their students during morning assemblies. Then both the teachers and students discuss about the topic, their feelings, learning, and experience. 

-          Code of ethics has already had profound impact on the ethical level of the Friendship students who can be easily detected from a group of children because of their high moral standard and integrity.

-          After successful introduction of code of ethics in Friendship schools, the organization was approached by District Primary Education office for implementing the same in government schools in Kurigram. So far, the code of ethics has been implemented in 25 government schools, where students are staying back in classes for half an hour after school hour on every Thursday.

Theory of Change

When Friendship first started the education program, there were chars where not even one person who could read or write. Many of those people were cheated while selling their produced goods or making a contract. They also did not know where to go for seeking help or for availing different facilities/ citizen rights.

As of now, because of Friendship’s intervention, in most of the chars, the basic literacy rate has crossed more than 60%. In every household, there is at least one person who can read and write. Therefore, s/he can help keep basic accounts, do basic calculation, and get in touch with the authorities with different complaints. This is something which was unthinkable even a few years back.

Friendship is well-aware that many of these children will not be able to continue education beyond primary schools. But they are taught in such a manner that they can grow with a disciplined mind with strong moral values. Friendship ensures that the graduating students will have a fair chance of getting a modest employment when they grow up.

Environmental Conservation

Through its approaches in Education program, Friendship attempts to provide environmental awareness to the students. At the same time, other steps are also taken to ensure that the environment is harmed as little as possible by community members. The following initiatives within Education program contributes to environment:

Clean home, clean school

In order to build a clean community, Friendship attempts to teach students ways to keep environment clean. Some of the key practices that are highlighted within the initiative are:

1. A special effort ‘clean school clean home’ is part of routine school activities.
2. Keep a bin inside the classroom and demonstrate children the use of it.
3. Keep the sanitary latrines and the tube-well area clean regularly.
4. Teach children to use sufficient amount of water after using the latrine every time.
5. Encourage the children to keep their courtyard and the surrounding areas of their house clean. 

Through “Clean home, clean school”, a clean community is created through the awareness being created among children first and then transferring the awareness to the guardians and the neighbors.

Environmental conservation during construction

Since we use only prefabricated materials for school construction, the environment is not harmed due to brick structure. In addition, most of the materials used, including bamboos, are quite eco-friendly in nature and thus promotes our commitment toward mother nature.

Gardening at schools and homes

Almost all of the schools have one flower garden within the school premises. Students, supervised by teachers, are encouraged to work in those gardens. Students are also given knowledge and are encouraged to start gardens in their households.

Friendship Adult Literacy program (an extension of the Primary Education Program)

When the Primary Education Program was first initiated, we identified that the literacy rate among the parents and the adolescents was quite low (below 5%) with people lacking basic literacy skills. Later on, we realized the need of a customized adult literacy program targeted toward the parents of our primary school students, adolescents, and others interested ones in the communities.

Friendship Adult Literacy Program was introduced as an extension of the existing Friendship Primary School Program. We believed that if basic education can be offered to these underprivileged people, the community in general would be able to read and write, do basic calculations, and thus lead a better and an enlightened life by being aware of the social rights that they deserve.

Friendship adult literacy program in numbers:

-          All of the learners in the adult literacy centers are women.

-          For adult literacy program, school hours are flexible and depend on learner convenience. Classes are normally run for 2 hours, thus attracting more adolescents and adults.

-          Age group distribution: 35% of the students are adolescents (15-19 years), around 40% are between 20-30 years of age.

Learning Centers with UNICEF in Rohingya camps

Since the recent Rohingya influx in August 2017, Friendship has been doing extensive healthcare, WASH, child protection, and gender-based violence projects in the Rohingya camps. Friendship started implementing Child Friendly Spaces from late 2017 with an aim to provide psychosocial and development supports to Rohingya children. 11 such Child Friendly Spaces are now supporting more than 1,600 Rohingya children on a continuous basis and are helping them recover from the trauma they faced back in Myanmar.

Apart from these, Friendship has partnered with UNICEF since September 2018 in order to construct and operate 100 learning centers in Rohingya camps, targeting 8,000 Rohingya children in total. Each of the learning centers is staffed by one Bangladeshi and one Burmese language teachers, who are provided regular capacity building supports. Apart from receiving regular lessons, students in those learning learning centers are also provided regular healthcare and knowledge about code of ethics, dignity, etc. (the same way in which Friendship’s regular school students are provided lessons on dignity and ethics)

Looking ahead: key milestones for next three years

-          Keep the 42 schools and 49 adult literacy centers operational.

-          Convert selected one-class satellite schools gradually into full-fledged 6-class primary schools.

-          Coordinate and cooperate with local level government in order to ensure that Code of Ethics is practiced across all government schools in Gaibandha and Kurigram Districts.

-          Introduce some Friendship curriculum – Code of Ethics, Child Rights, Environmental Studies and Cultural Studies in the Government schools through discussion

-          Persuade the Government to adopt the concept of teachers below high school for hard to reach areas with Friendship model of teachers training and monitoring.

-          Get a third-party independent evaluation on Friendship’s entire Primary Education project.

Characteristics of the Secondary Education Program

Need Analysis for Secondary Education in Remote Communities

Though Friendship initially started with only primary education, it eventually expanded to secondary education. The unique set of benefits which are gained from secondary education and those which cannot be gained from solely primary education was a compelling reason for this expansion. These envisaged benefits include:

• Enhanced ability to earn a living: Secondary schooling provides the learners of these remote areas with enhanced capacities, which in turn prepare them to gain vocational training from Friendship or other NGOs. In addition, comparatively higher-level education offers children access to knowledge and resources to look for other livelihood options in the future.
• Reduction in early marriage: In the char areas, girls would normally get married at the age of 13 or 14 as they did not have the scope to do anything other than household chores once they left primary school. However, following the introduction of secondary schools, the girls now have better access to higher education and their parents have a reason not to marry their daughters off as soon as primary school ends.
• Better living standard: Access to secondary schools drastically increases the living standard in char communities, as students receiving education from these schools are better aware of their responsibilities and rights and are more likely to work towards creating a better society. Secondary education will also create opportunities for them and thus limit migration to urban slum areas.
• Increased connectivity: Most char dwellers are detached from the mainland and do not have access to any form of technology. As part of the secondary education implementation plan, each secondary school classroom was equipped with one laptop and multiple monitors on which video lessons are played during class. As such, students now have a chance to experience ICT in meaningful ways and have better access to knowledge and information. Although Friendship’s current secondary education program only provides education till 9^th grade and will start 10^th grade for the first time in 2020, the experience of connecting with the broader world is expected to give students motivation and enthusiasm to explore higher grades of education (beyond grade X) by traveling to the mainland.

Program Strategy

Friendship’s Secondary Education program gives hope to the remotest communities of the country and gives the people there an opportunity towards a more meaningful and fairer life.

Friendship Secondary Education was initiated in 2015 with Grade VI in five islands. In order to ensure best quality education for the students and recognizing the connectivity issue, Friendship has had made thousands of hours of educational videos on government curriculum taught by the top-quality teachers living in the capital city. Those videos are converted into CDs, sent to the schools, and shown through computers in the classrooms, where the trained primary school teachers work as facilitators.

The demand for enrolment increased over the last few years due to the opportunity of better employability and as an escape from early marriage.

In all of the islands where the secondary schools are implemented, Friendship already had its primary education program operational and selected graduates from only Friendship primary schools were enrolled in the secondary schools. This enrolment restriction was based on the premise that students who did not require primary education access either had access to alternatives or didn’t have the academic preparation needed for secondary level. Girls were given priority since at least few of the primary school graduating boys were able to travel to another island or mainland for getting secondary education, but it was virtually impossible for girls to travel and receive further education.

In each of the classes, around 15 students were enrolled on an average. The demand for enrolment increased due to the opportunity of better employability and an escape from early marriage. As such, around 20-22 students are enrolled for each batch at present.

By the end of 2018, the second batches of students completed Grade VIII and appeared for Junior School Certificate Exam, achieving commendable results, far exceeding the national average. Currently, there are four grades being operated (up to Grade IX) and Friendship envisages to initiate Grade X next year.

The total number of classes operational at the moment:

-          Grade VI, Grade VII, Grade VIII and IX: 5 schools

-          Grade VI, Grade VII and Grade VIII: 7 schools

-          Grade VI: 4 schools (to be started in March 2019)

All students in Friendship Secondary Schools are those who have passed from Friendship Primary Schools.

Infrastructure: There are one computer (laptop), two to three monitors (depending on the number of students) and lights in each of the classrooms. There is one solar panel installed in every school for supporting these solutions across the classes.

The classrooms are constructed immediately adjacent to existing Friendship Primary Schools.

Solar grids: This project requires solar panels that provide power up to 8 hours, for all computers in operational classes. Friendship’s own rural electrification program provides the required technical support in this regard.

Primary school teacher as facilitator: The trained Friendship primary school teachers work as facilitators/ shadow teachers and are offered basic subject knowledge beforehand, related to the topics that are taught to the students. During the classes, they answer questions that the students may raise after watching the videos.

Learning method: Videos are made on government curriculum syllabus and saved in portable hard disk drives that are sent to the schools. Prominent teachers from Dhaka have appeared for those videos and concepts have been explained in and easy manner with layman terms for the students. Lessons are recorded and converted into video files for each subject. Teachers from renowned schools of Dhaka, such as Residential Model School & College, BIAM Model School & College, Rifles Public School and College, and Motijheel Ideal College are among those who taught through these videos. In the videos, the teachers focus on conceptual clarity and proper application of learning materials. Each recorded session is approximately 40-45 minutes long.

The videos are shown to the students during class hours and they have the option to ask questions after the classes. The questions are either resolved by the facilitators immediately, or after they discuss these questions with teachers from Dhaka during weekly phone calls.

Call Centre: When students have questions, they are taken down as notes by the facilitator. The facilitators try and understand the solutions to those problems through phone calls with teachers at Dhaka once every week. The teachers also visit the schools from time to time (usually once a year) to understand how they work.

Checking exam scripts: In order to ensure that students get a fair and accurate evaluation of their merit, all the monthly and semester exam scripts are sent to Friendship’s Dhaka head office and are checked by teachers in Dhaka. The checked exam scripts are then sent back to the students.

School Library: Secondary school students are given the opportunity to read different books (novels, fun books, history, etc) from libraries that have been set up in some of these schools.

4 Years of Secondary Education

The journey of Friendship Secondary Education Program until 2018 can be summarised in the table below:

                                                2015          2016          2017          2018

Number of Students                65              123            249            302

Number of male students        28               49             98              124

Number of female students     37               74             151            178

Number of schools                   5                 5               7                7

Number of classes                   5                 10             17              19

Number of facilitators               5                 10             17              19

Cumulative number of video

lessons available                     456              559           1268          1546

Pass rate of JSC                      -                  -                100%         98.43%

A press conference for “Friendship’s ICT-aided Schools in Remote Chars Creates Landmark - 100% pass rate in JSC exam” was held at the Daily Star Centre on the 2^nd January 2018. The event was a recognition and celebration of the fact that all students from 7 of Friendship’s innovative ICT-aided secondary schools not only had a 100% pass rate, but their results were way above average when compared even to schools in Dhaka and other major cities. The press conference was attended by chief guest Zunaid Ahmed Palak, State Minister of ICT Division, Government of Bangladesh, who praised Friendship and its students for their achievement. The press conference received wide coverage in several media outlets.

Secondary Education Program Highlights 2018 - 2019

The secondary education program is being piloted in 11 schools in the remote char areas. 2018 has been a year of achievement for Friendship Secondary Education Program.

Students from Friendship Secondary Schools appeared in the Junior School Certificate[1] exam for the second time in 2018. 64 students (26 boys and 38 girls) appeared for the Junior School Certificate (JSC) exam with a pass rate of 98.43% as compared to the national average of 53%.

Based on the most recent updates, an overview of Friendship’s Secondary Schools program is as follows:

1. As of January 2019, 285 students are enrolled in Grade VI, 134 in Grade VII, 95 in Grade VIII and 49 in Grade IX in Friendship Secondary Schools. For the first time, Friendship is offering Grade IX education this year, in 5 of its schools in Gaibandha and Chilmari. The students attending Grade IX are among the 63 students who passed Grade VIII in 2018 from these 5 schools. 531 total, VI – 285, vii – 134, viii – 95 ix - 49

Though Friendship had initially planned to enrol 10-12 students in each of the classrooms, 142 students were enrolled in Grade VI in 7 schools in 2018, which is equivalent to more than 20 students/ classroom.

This represents an increasing demand for secondary education program in the chars among both students and their parents, who are better aware of the necessity of further studies. In addition, many of the girls are seeking secondary education as a way out of early marriage.

1. Grade VI, VII, VIII and IX are continuing in 5 schools, whereas there are two schools in which there are only Grade VI, Grade VII and Grade VIII.
2. 4 new secondary schools have been started in Rowmari and Ulipur from provisional structure and are expected to move to permanent facilities upon the completion of construction in late March.
3. In 2018, a total of around 278 newlessons were recorded by subject – wise teachers from renowned schools of Dhaka. As of January 29, 2019, 58 recordings for class 9 have been completed and more are in process.
4. In 2018, school visits were made by the subject specialist teachers to 7 secondary schools of Friendship. The students & facilitators at these schools had the scope to share their feedback and suggestions during these visits. 

Follow Up

For future employment, Friendship provides training to its graduating students for better opportunities:

• Vocational Training: Friendship has some vocational training initiatives for secondary level school students where they can use their learning for income generating activities in future. In 2018, 8 students were given a 3-day training in healthcare and an internship at the Friendship floating hospitals.For 2019, Friendship is taking the initiative to provide training to male students on solar panel installation and maintenance.
• Government Training: Friendship is cooperating with the Department of Youth Development under Ministry of Youth and Sports to create access to government facilitated training programs for the students who graduate secondary school.

Out of the 63 students graduating from Grade VIII in 2018, 49 got enrolled in Grade IX in the same school run by Friendship. 6 of the graduates dropped out and 8 of the graduates (4 male and 4 female) went to different schools to pursue education in class IX.

• Indicator Development process: Friendship has recently begun doing extensive works to update and review the existing indicators for different projects across the organization. As part of this initiative, the available indicators of Secondary Education are also being reviewed and updated. This is expected to make reporting more accurate and realistic once the process is completed.

Future Plan

The following are future plans for the Secondary Education program

• Introduce Grade IX (in 2020) in the two schools in Kurigram which started in 2017 and have currently three grades only.
• Introduce Grade X (in 2020) in the 5 schools in Gaibandha and Chilmari that started in 2015 and currently offer classes until Grade IX.
• Continue introducing new grades every year until at least Grade X in the 4 schools in Roumari that have started with grade VI in 2019.
• Friendship is also looking into the possibility of incorporating Grade IX and X in all its schools in the near future, subject to permission from the Government.
• Friendship will start running an advocacy program with the Government for incorporating video-based lessons into Government supported schools in remote locations where traditional methods of teaching are not feasible because of a shortage in the number of qualified teachers. This has already been highlighted once during the press conference in the beginning of 2018.
• Subject to availability of funds, Friendship intends to operate one hostel for female graduates who intend to continue further studies after completing Grade VIII in Gaibandha town, in order to ensure safety for girls and encourage their parents to continue their daughters’ education.
• Follow up of graduating students: Follow-up is already in place to monitor the students who have graduated from Friendship Secondary Education program, in order to understand and support the continuation of their further education.

Friendship Secondary Education graduates, after completing further studies, will be connected with job-providers after completion of their studies.

[1]The Junior School Certificate, also known as JSC, is a public examination attended by students in Bangladesh after successful completion of eight years of schooling, i.e. after completion of Grade VIII

• 190430_GG_Education_report.pdf (PDF)