The British Council launched the Kids Read programme for the third year at the British Council’s Dhaka University campus office on 19 February 2017. Developed and designed by the British Council, the project is supported by grants from the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited (HSBC). Kids Read is an award-winning scheme developed to help children enjoy reading.
In this edition of the programme, 12 selected partner schools from Dhaka with students from primary school studying in grades 1 to 5 will take part. Bangladesh has been one of the eight countries in Asia, where the programme has been implemented. It is an initiative which also teaches teachers from the selected schools on how to be more interactive and engaging with the students by using English story books.
Sayeed Khokon, Honourable Mayor of Dhaka North City Corporation, inaugurated the programme as the chief guest in the ceremony. Francois de Maricourt, CEO of HSBC Bangladesh, Barbara Wickham, Country Director, British Council and Sarwat Reza, Library Manager, British Council were also present at the launching ceremony. A storyteller ran the story telling session with the children and books were handed over to the school authorities and among the students.
To support the partner schools in English language and literacy development, Kids Read programme was piloted in Bangladesh in 2015. This year, Kids Read aims to reach over 10,000 students from 12 schools in Dhaka city. Each school will receive a set of popular storybook titles from the United Kingdom (UK) to improve the reading habit and English language skills of students.