Senior officials from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) visited Government Primary Schools under Save the Children’s Reading Enhancement for Advancing Development (READ) project, located in Magura in Bangladesh, on Wednesday, October 18, 2017.
Since 2013, USAID has been supporting Save the Children in implementing READ project at different locations of Bangladesh, and Jessore region (Magura and Jhenaidah district) is one of them— where 284 Government Primary Schools and 130 Community Reading Camps are working to improve early grade reading competence among the children from grade I-III.
From USAID, Mr. Lee L. Marshall, Education Team Lead, Asia Bureau (USAID/Washington), Ms. Kate Maloney, Education Team Leader, USAID, and Mohammad Shahidul Islam, Senior Education Advisor, Office of Population, Health, Nutrition, and Education (PHNE) visited three primary schools and a READ facilitated Community Reading Camp in Magura/Jhenaidah. The officials visited Abalpur Government Primary School, Batikadanga Government Primary School, and Kochundi Government Primary School, located in Sadar Upazila, Magura. They will also visit Katakhali Community Reading Camp located in Katakhali village, Magura Sadar Upazila.
While their visit, Mr. Lee L. Marshall said that USAID has been working with the Government of Bangladesh for a long time, and they will continue to work for the development of Bangladesh. USAID is very happy to see how community engagement has been developed for improving children’s reading skills in Bangla and address issues related to literacy with the active participation of children, parents, and primary school teachers.
They also expressed how they witnessed the collaborative effort has created a “Literacy Boost” and having an impact in early graders’ reading enhancement in Magura district. USAID will work to expand this “Literacy Boost” across Bangladesh in near future. Mr. Lee L. Marshall also encouraged and praised media’s active role in Bangladesh’s “Literacy Boost”.
From Save the Children in Bangladesh, Ms. Bushra Zulfiqar, Director-Education, Md. Shahin Islam, Acting Chief of Party, READ, Md. Akidul Islam, Deputy Director-Reading, READ, Samiul Ahsan, Manager-Communication and Private Sector Engagement, READ, and other officials accompanied USAID officials. From READ’s implementing partner NGO in Jessore region—Jagoroni Chakra Foundation (JCF), Md. Iqbal Hossain, Project Coordinator, READ, JCF, joined the visit.
