The country’s students were hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic. Educational institutions have been closed since 18 March 2020, leavings students out of the classroom for more than a year.
This disruption in education is a threat to the future of the students and the country. In such a situation, Friendship, a Social Purpose Organization has kept its primary, secondary and adult education programs ongoing through bold and innovative techniques since the start of the pandemic, said a press release on Monday.
Brig Gen (Retd) Ilyas Iftekhar Rasul, Head of the Friendship Education, said that around 5,000 disadvantaged students in Gaibandha and Kurigram were being taught in a few alternative ways.
It may be mentioned that among these are communication to students and guardians through phone calls; courtyard sessions in small, socially distanced groups; door-to-door inquiries on students’ wellbeing by Friendship staff, etc.
These methods are being carried out by 43 primary and 16 secondary Friendship schools located in remote deltaic islets of the two districts. Online training is now being organised to make the faculties’ jobs easier. Rasul also stated that such initiatives taken during the Corona outbreak have made it possible to prevent students from dropping out of school despite not being able to attend physically.
There was no negative impact on the continued education of the students, especially due to backyard education and door-to-door reach.
Runa Khan, Founder and Executive Director of Friendship said, “therefore, a new dimension has been brought into the teaching methods of the organization’s schools.
Parents, the local community and government administration, in particular, applauded the students for keeping up with their studies for their phone calls, backyard sessions and door-to-door inquiries. I hope that this kind of applause and encouragement will further accelerate Friendship’s work.”
