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The Study on Recovery, Extension and Evaluation of Kajoli ECL Centres for and Setting up of a Kajoli Foundation, Prepared by Dr. Monirul I. Khan

With uniqueness the Kajoli Model School pursues the goal of nurturing interest for study among the pre-primary children belonging to the disadvantaged families. Its method of teaching deviates from the conventional one which primarily comprises of lecturing the students. Instead, it applies the technique of games. This model is also low cost engaging the female teachers who belong to the same village with moderate education level (e.g., secondary school or higher secondary college graduates mostly) and the space for the class and remuneration of the teacher are organized by the community. Selected teachers are given training by RIB initially for three days and later annually once, both free of cost. RIB also provides teaching materials and curricula free of cost. The teaching method applies a number of techniques to dispense with monotony or boredom generally felt by the pre-primary children when they sit for study instead of games and engage them in the class. Three subjects, namely, Bengali, English and Arithmetic are taught to the students. The model’s uniqueness also includes a component of providing খিচুড়ি rice-pulse mixed meal to the students by their mothers by rotation. The school program was started with Bengali and Arithmetic, later English was added. The program was started in 2005. At present there are one hundred schools functioning in the districts of Nilphamari, Panchagarh and Naogaon.

Community Role in Promoting Education: The Kajoli Model by Dr. Shamsul Bari

My heart leaps with joy every time I pass by groups of boys and girls in school uniform happily chatting away on way to or from school on village roads. I see the future of Bangladesh in them.
Such sights were not common a few decades ago. Clearly the efforts of successive Governments and NGOs to promote education in Bangladesh are bearing fruit. As a result even families that had no tradition of schooling are sending their children to school.

When School is All About Having Fun: The Early Childhood Learning Centres

Shamim Ahsan and Imran H. Khan

The three floors of Research Initiatives, Bangladesh (RIB) located at Banani echoed with the sound of laughter and positive energy as crowds of eager children, their mothers and representatives from numerous NGOs and press alike gathered together at a Children's Fair organised by RIB. The children, all of whom are of pre-school age, belonged to the families of the most disadvantaged communities throughout Bangladesh. They had come from over a hundred Early Childhood Learning Centres (ECLC) established in different parts of Bangladesh over the last three years. They are all part of a project called 'Kajoli Model', an initiative of RIB to solve illiteracy in the poorer communities. Everyone came together to lackboards are fitted on the sides of the walls and children are allowed to draw and write whenever and whatever they wish to demonstrate the different aspects of this unique endeavour, in this low-cost model totally sustained by the local community. The fair was inaugurated by his Excellency, Kees Beemsterboer, the Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Bangladesh, on December 20 2005. The whole day was full of activities surrounding the children and their involvement with the centres.

Kajoli Early Childhood Learning: A Model for Empowerment of Marginalized Communities

Saifuzzaman Rana

The Kajoli Early Childhood Learning Model is a pre-school model innovated through action research. One of the earliest decisions of RIB was to support an action research project on educational needs of the economically under privileged community. The action research began on 1 January 2003 in Kajoli, a village located in the Sreepur thana of Magura district in the south west of Bangladesh. The main objective of the project was to develop an early childhood learning model specifically for children from the under privileged communities in Bangladesh. By April 2008 this model has been adopted in 135 centers (villages) in 26 districts in Bangladesh. This was possible because RIB solicited interest from individual volunteers to actively involve the community in setting up a learning centre and sustaining it. The volunteer was to be seen as an Agroni or champion. An advertisement in the media has led to numerous applications. RIB is still being inundated by applications from prospective Agronis to help give necessary technical assistance like training, advice and logistic support to help open more centers in disadvantaged communities all over the country.