A national learning sharing conference on Second Chance Education (SCE) was held in Habiganj, Bangladesh on April 8, 2018. The purpose of the conference was to share current progress and discuss future strategies of the SCE program.
Mohammad Asif-Uz-Zaman, Secretary, Ministry of Primary & Mass Education (MoPME) graced the event as chief guest. The event was chaired by Dr. Md. Abu Hena Mostofa Kamal, ndc., Director General, Directorate of Primary Education (DPE). Md. Gias Uddin Ahmed, Additional Secretary (Development), MoPME;Tapan Kumar Ghosh, Director General, Bureau of Non-Formal Education (BNFE) and Md. Delwar Hossain, Director, SCE Division, DPE; were also present as special guests of the event.
During the event, Md. Delwar Hossain, Director, SCE Division, DPE, mentioned in his welcome address that the knowledge and learnings acquired from the piloting phase of Second Chance Education program will help to achieve Vision 2020 and SDG 4.
Tapan Kumar Ghosh, DG, BNFE, elaborated in his speech about the global uniqueness of the Second Chance Education program. He also shared his experience of visiting some learning centers in different implementation locations.
Md. Gias Uddin Ahmed, Additional Secretary (Development) said that it is possible to present Second Chance Education model in the Global Education Community as a replicable model.
The Chief Guest of this conference and Secretary of MoPME, Asif-Uz-Zaman reflected on his dreams, hopes, and future aspirations Second Chance Education program.
The Director-General of Directorate of Primary Education, Mr. Abu Hena Mostafa Kamal NDC expressed his high satisfaction regarding the piloting program and expressed his hope to target 1 million out of school children through this intervention.
Aiming to achieve SDG 4, DPE under the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education (MoPME), has been implementing the Second Chance Education (SCE) program under Primary Education Development Program 3 (PEDP3). DPE formed a partnership with Joint Venture Partners including BRAC, Dhaka Ahsania Mission (DAM) and Save the Children to implement this program.
Save the Children in Bangladesh has been working as the lead agency to support DPE for implementing the program. Seven national NGOs (RDRS Bangladesh, CODEC, Jagoroni Chakra Foundation, DSK, Ghashful, JSUS and YPSA) have been working with BRAC and Save the Children as implementing partners.
The first phase of the program was started in September 2017 as a pilot program for one lakh Out of School Children (OoSC).
The pilot program is implemented at 37 upazilas/thanas of Dhaka North and South City Corporation, Chittagong City Corporation, Sylhet, Sunamgonj, Kishorgonj and Gaibandha districts. MoPME/DPE has endorsed four tested alternative education models named ABAL, Cohort, Multi-grade and SHIKHON to provide quality basic education to diversified groups of learners in different geographical areas. From July 2018, MoPME hopes to continue this program in the next PEDP4, aiming to reach one million out of school children.
