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BRAC,
one of the largest NGOs of the world and the Government of the Kingdom
of Norway entered into a 100 million NOK (Norwegian Kroner) [around
1000 million Taka] agreement to make a significant contribution to the
achievement of education for all in Bangladesh. An agreement to this
accord was signed between H.E. Ms Aud Lise Norheim, Ambassador, The
Royal Norwegian Embassy and Mr. Abdul Muyeed Chowdhury, Executive Director,
BRAC, in a simple ceremony held at the BRAC Centre in Dhaka on April
24, 2006.The Executive Director, BRAC thanked the Ambassador for their
cooperation in extending their support to BRAC’s programmes and
was assured by the Ambassador “Norwegian cooperation has grown
and will continue to do so”. The ceremony was attended by Ms Inger
Sangnez, First Secretary, Royal Norwegian Embassy Dr Shafiqul Islam,
Programme Head, BRAC Education Programme, Shib Narayan Kairy, Head of
Finance and Accounts, BRAC and Tasfiyah Jalil, Communications Officer,
BRAC .
The agreement covers the BRAC Education Programme
over a course of 5 years which began in June 2004 to expand reach of
BRAC’s Education Programme in Bangladesh. The project, jointly
funded by CIDA, DFID, NOVIB and the Royal Netherlands Embassy, is now
in Phase IV and will be completed in December 2009. Previously also,
in June 2004, BRAC received 30 million NOK (around 300 million Taka)
from the Norwegian Government for this programme. Through this agreement
cost-effective and quality education will be provided to out-of-school
poor children, of whom more than 64% will be girls and particularly
children living in remote areas or with special needs or ethnic minorities.
For the purpose, capacity building training will be given to BRAC teachers,
98% of whom are women. It is expected 1,104140 students will graduate
from the BRAC Primary School and get transferred to formal schools.
Around 855,500 drop-out/non-enrolled children from poor families across
the country will be provided with primary education through 18,500 BRAC
Primary Schools, 5,350 BRAC Adolescent Primary Schools and 5,500 Education
Support Programme schools, for a total of 28,500 new schools. An additional
29,000 Children With Disabilities (CWD) will be enrolled into BRAC Schools
and benefited through the provision of assistive devices. Cooperation
with local NGOs will be extended to reach remote areas through 2,500
schools for providing education to 60,000 ethnic students. 6,000 Kishori
Kendros (Adolescent Centres) will be operated over the 5-year period
giving access to life-skills courses and continuing education opportunities
to 2,23,750 adolescents, most of whom are girls. A further 1700 secondary
schools will be covered under the Post Primary Basic Education component
to improve their management and provide Head Teachers, subject teachers
and School Management Committee (SMC) members with the appropriate in-service
or management training. The Continuing Education component of BRAC’s
Education programme will enhance facilities and equipment in 1700 schools
and equip 2,130 existing Gonokendros (Community Libraries) with Information
Technology services with funding from this agreement.
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