‘Protection and education are much needed right now’ says Save the Children
Approximate 17.3 million students of pre-primary to grade five are affected due to the pandemic situation in Bangladesh
The education sector director of Save the Children in Bangladesh Narayan Prasad Kafle and other speakers including government officials have talked about the possible measures and way out to provide maximum collaborative support to the children to continue their education in the context of new normal.
They discussed the ideas during a programme monitoring and lessons learned workshop of "Protection and Education for Affected children in Covid-19 Emergency (PEACE)" project, said a press release.
The project has ended its Phase-1 in Savar, Narayanganj and Gazipur and about to start Phase-2 highly considering the learning from the previous implementation.
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The workshop has been jointly organised by Save the Children in Bangladesh and project implementation partner SEEP on 22 December at BCDM, Savar.
Approximate 17.3 million students of pre-primary to grade five are affected due to the pandemic situation in Bangladesh. During the lesson learned workshop the participants discussed how in the post Covid-19 situation the education and learning of the children can be continued ensuring the high quality.
"SCiBD is supporting around 100,000 children through our education programs. And, SCI is committed to continue this support. Since Covid-19 SCI has been working closely with govt. We are thinking hard about safe back to school ideas for children. We are worried about the learning gaps created by the pandemic," Narayan Prasad Kafle said.
"Children are likely to lose their aptitude for learning and the biggest concern is the drop out. Also, girl children are more prone to early marriages, and school closures is aggravating child marriages. Therefore, SCI is working with government and local authorities to collectively and safely bring children back to school. So, we need to motivate the parents to let their children comes to school and we are working to create safe environment at school," he added.
Rakiba Sultana, assistant upazila education officer of Savar talked about working collaboratively with the NGOs.
She said: "To move our country forward government believes in joining hands with NGOs. In fighting the effects of Covid-19 in education sector we appreciate the continued support of SCI. The government is being prepared for reopening of schools. We appreciate the support of SCI for working towards bringing children back to school. Hopefully, when the pandemic situation gets better and fit for school reopening, the children will come to safe and child friendly environments at schools."
From the discussion on workshop it was decided that Phase-2 PEACE project of SCI will work jointly with Upazila Education Office from planning phase which will allow smooth and quality implementation, the press release added.
Frequent migration of garments workers has been pointed out as one of the big challenges for project implementation.
Save the Children has provided support to 9000 children of 30 Government Primary Schools (GPS) of Savar, Narayanganj and Gazipur areas through PEACE project.
