Play Learn Act is a new project started from January 2016, developed by the British Council and supported by grants from the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited (HSBC) to enhance capacity in 20 governmental primary schools in three years. The objective of the project is to enhance literacy and communication skills of 22,500 students, teachers, school administration staff and parents in Bangladesh and to develop their analytical and thinking skills to help them express their thoughts, ideas in an articulate manner.
Among the total eligible population in Bangladesh, only 18% can communicate in English due to the learners' shyness, scarcity of appropriate teaching or IT resources, and competent teachers. Bangladeshis consider English as a ‘subject’ to pass rather than a language to communicate. The targeted students are from underprivileged background with no access to additional learning resources outside their regular school curricula.
As a part of this project, throughout the month of November 2016, ten intra-school quiz competitions and 90 storytelling sessions were arranged among the students of the selected schools. Winners will be awarded gifts through annual award giving gala event at the beginning of next year. The storytelling sessions were conducted by the professional storytellers. The books provided to the students under the Play Learn Act project are used for the storytelling sessions. The teachers and students appreciated the storytelling sessions conducted by the British Council.
“Storytelling skills are enhancing creative writing skills of the students which in turn are helping the students to attain good marks in their national curriculum as well,” said Gulshan Ara Khanom, Principal, Amtoli Staff Welfare Government Primary School. All the students are eagerly waiting for the prize giving ceremony.