The British Council has recently partnered with the country’s leading telecommunication company Grameenphone and Durbin Labs, an institution working for the development of digital education in Bangladesh, to develop a mobile application for young students. In today’s digital era, added support from digital educational content is becoming a necessity for students. Although Bangladeshi students have access to the internet, there is a noticeable lack of contextually relevant content in Bangla. To address this need, Grameenphone, the British Council and Durbin Labs have signed agreements on 29 May 2018, in promised efforts to develop the MyStudy mobile application for Bangladeshi students.

The MyStudy application targets SSC students in the 9th and 10th grades, focusing on the national curriculum for Mathematics, English and ICT subjects. The app will provide self-learning and self-assessment modules designed to create engagement and better understanding. The app will enable equal access across the country to quality education and clarity on content.  MyStudy contents will be available to students free of cost.

The British Council, which has experience and a proven track record in developing education both locally and internationally, will take the lead in designing the conceptual framework and overall design guidelines for curating the mobile content from the local education materials writers. A Digital Learning consultant will provide instructions for content development for the team of writers employed by Grameenphone. Durbin Labs will then be developing the digital content based on the guidelines provided by the British Council.

MyStudy is expected to be a great equaliser in education as students will be able to access quality educational support from their homes. Furthermore, students living in remote areas of Bangladesh will benefit from this service. MyStudy is designed to focus more on deeper understanding by engaging students in a fun way. The platform will cover contents ranging from video classes on textbook content, self-assessment modules for each chapter of the subjects specified and the explanation videos for the assessments.

Speaking on the occasion Grameenphone CEO Michael Foley said, “Slowly, but surely online education will transform the way we learn and has already started impacting some on our society.” Barbara Wickham, Director Bangladesh, British Council said, “The British Council has a long history of working with the ministries of education and other various agencies on improving Education across Bangladesh. This is a natural next step into the digital domain that will bridge the gap and also ensure quality education, thus implementing SDG-4 throughout the country.”