Background
School closure due to Covid-19 caused a significant learning loss, specially to primary schools’ children in Bangladesh. The learning loss reduced the foundational literacy and numeracy skills among primary school children. Foundational learning is critical in enabling all children to reach their full potential and participate fully in society. According to National Students Assessment-2022, proportion of students who were proficient in literacy and numeracy was 51% and 39% respectively in grade 3 and 50% and 30% respectively in grade 5. There are also gaps in teachers’ professional skills to address children’s learning needs which is other causes of this learning gap. The Directorate of Primary Education (DPE) taken the progressive initiative to develop a national remedial learning package as part of its formal education provision to meet the national learning gap. The package provides additional content to grade 1–5 teachers to support learners who are not achieving learning outcome targets in Bangla, English, and Math to catch up. Teachers are expected to integrate this content into their normal lessons, and while it is specifically targeted at lower-performing students, the activities and pedagogy incorporated will benefit teachers’ general teaching practice. Save the Children (SC) will work in partnership with multiple levels of the DPE to support the rollout of the remedial learning package and provide continuous teacher professional development (TPD). The 'Empowering Children through Education (ECE)' Project builds upon the success of the previous 'Empowering Girls through Education (EGE)' Project, which demonstrated significant improvements in girls' foundational literacy and numeracy skills, as well as positive impacts on girls' continued education.

Project Goal
Learners from Grade I-V have improved foundational learning competencies through remedial learning support delivered by motivated and skilled teachers.

Outcomes
1. Increased capacity of teachers to deliver remedial learning to children from grade I-V, so they have improved foundational learning competencies and enhanced EdTech skills.
2. Strengthening Government Systems for Teacher Professional Development Training and Remedial Learning for Grades I-V.
3. Increased teachers' motivation and engagement with the school community.

Project Duration
1 November 2023 - 31 October 2026

Donor
Hempel Foundation

Project Participants
Direct - 42270 (Children 20320 & Adults 21950)
Indirect - 43892 (Children 38640 & Adults 5252)
Students Community, Teachers Govt. Officials, Policy Makers, Parents & Media.

Project Location
Rajarhat Upazila, Kurigram District & Madarganj Upazila, Jamalpur District

Advocacy Partner
Campaign for Popular Education (CAMPE)

Implementing Partner
Eco-Social Development Organization (ESDO)

Major Activities
- Support to development and implementation of the Remedial Learning Package
- Teacher Professional Development (TPD) through blended learning approaches
- Establish a Learning Management System for Teachers Professional Development
- Local learnings on Enabling Teachers approach to feed into the global learning agenda
- Establish steering committees at various levels (National & Sub-district)
- Enhance and strengthen IT resource centers at Union Parishad
- Engagement of parents and caregivers in the school community
- Development of guideline on effective home-visit by teachers

Government Initiatives and Project Scope
- The DPE initiated the implementation of a national remedial learning package to address the
learning gap at 500 schools as pilot basis. SC will contribute to this initiative based on its expertise in
quality teaching and learning.
- The ECE Project aims to pilot remedial learning in 100 schools and scale up to 322 schools in Rajarhat
and Madarganj Sub-district.
- SC will work collaboratively with national, district, and sub-district systems to support teachers to
effectively integrate the remedial learning package into their regular teaching learning practice
through SC’s teacher professional development and systems strengthening approach.