As part of the activities in Anagrasar Gano Unnayan Prakolpo (AGUP) funded by Oxfam GB a Roundtable was organized by Ethnic Community Development Organization (ECDO) on “Importance of Bi-lingual Education and Indigenous Teacher for Indigenous Children at Primary Level” on 22nd May 2010 at the conference room, Hotel Polash, Sylhet. Mr. A K M Riaz Uddin, District Primary Education officer graced the event as the Chief Guest. Mr. Maruf Ahmed Choudhury, Upozilla Primary Education officer was present as special guest. Mr. Lakshmikanta Singh, Executive Director of ECDO presided over the round table meeting.

At the beginning of the program a keynote paper was presented by Mr. Oinam Pamheiba Singha, Project Coordinator of ECDO. Chief Guest Mr. A K M Riaz Uddin thanked to ECDO for taking initiative to bring the issue of Bi- Lingual Education to light. He also added that Government is aware on the issue and will take initiative for ensuring basic education in mother tongue for indigenous children within a short period of time. He mentioned the commitment of government to achieve “Millennium Development Goal” and explained that it will only be possible if we ensure education in mother tongue for indigenous people.

Speakers and participants emphasize the need to provide basic education for indigenous children in their mother tongue & recruit indigenous teacher at Government primary school. They called on the government to take initiative very urgently.

Round Table related link;
http://www.prothom-alo.com/detail/date/2010-05-23/news/65484
http://www.uttorpurbo.com/index.php?id=203&cid=14749

http://www.sylhetsanglap.com/fullnews.php?nid=1812&date=2010-05-22

A Seminar was held on 15^th April, 2010 on the issue of the importance of primary education in mother tongue for indigenous children. The seminar styled ‘Indigenous children’s primary education in mother tongue: significance and intention’ was organized by the Ethnic Community Development Organization with a support from Oxfam GB under it’s Anagrasar Gonounnayan Project. The seminar was presided over by Mr. Lakshmikanta Singh executive director of the organization. Eminent author and chief of the computer science and engineering department of Shahjalal University of Science and Technology Professor Mohammed Zafar Iqbal addressed the seminar as chief guest.
Mr. Enamul Habib, Upozella Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Sylhet sadar & Mr. A.K.M Reaz Uddin, District Primary Education Officer (DPEO) were present as special guests. Seminar papers on this topic was present by Professor Dr. Tulshi Kumar Das, Chairman Social Work Department & Dean of social sciences faculty of Sylhet Shahjalal University of Science and Technology.

Mr. E. U Shahidul Islam renowned lawyer & the president of Sylhet Bar Association played role as a Moderator in this seminar. Professor Zafor said every child have the rights to study in their own mother tongue. But considering the real situation we should think up to which class we should provide in mother tongue education for indigenous children. Further he said once all indigenous children have to be mainstreaming for ensuring their own development.

Speakers of the seminar stressed the need for teaching the indigenous children in their mother tongue at the primary level so that they could absorb the lessons easily. Mentioning that the children have a natural capacity to learn any language, the speakers said the indigenous children should learn Bangla as the national language side-by-side with their own language so that they do not have to face any difficulty in their professional life.

In the seminar some indigenous leader participants were very angry for the publication with wrong information in some national curriculum books for primary and secondary level about some indigenous communities. They claimed to the concern authority of the government to make amendment this wrong information after discussion with the concern indigenous communities as early as possible.

Besides the chief & special guests other honorable participants were also delivered their valuable speeches. There were Professor Dr. Yasmeen Haque of SUST, Mr. Farukh Mahmud Chowdhury Administrator Sylhet Chambers of Commerce, Professor Dr. Abul Fateh Fattah of Sylhet Madan Mohan College, Mr, Aziz Ahmed Selim Chief editor of The Daily Uttar Purba  & BTV representative of Sylhet, Mr. A K Sheram Chairperson of Bangladesh Manipuri Sahitya Sangsad, Mr. Khoiram Kamini Kumar Singha indigenous teacher, Mr. Khoiram Indrazit Singha Manipuri poet & litterateur have deliver their valuable speeches. At the end of the seminar Mr. Lakshmikanta Singh thanks to all participants to make the seminar successful.

Seminar related media link:-

http://www.thedailystar.net/campus/2010/04/04/newsroom.htm
http://www.newagebd.com/2010/apr/17/met.html

ECDO is involved in a series of activities to improve the education status of indigenous children. Most of the indigenous children are deprived of the chance to get an education as their guardians see them as an extra hand to work and help them eke out a living. This year ECDO has been involved in two major projects in Education.

Education Materials Distribution Programme:

The Education Material Distribution (EMD) Programme was held on 8th June 2008 at Kushal Patro Indigenous Village, Khadim Nagar, Sylhet. ECDO organizes these programmes yearly from its own fund and this year it went further by adding to the programme of an open discussion with its stakeholders. During the discussion session, ECDO found that 8 indigenous secondary school students had been expelled from school due to not having school dresses. ECDO and the participants then requested the local Union Parishad (UP) Chairman who was present as the Chief Guest of the discussion session to donate school dresses for those kids. The guardians greatly appreciated these efforts made by ECDO and UP Chairman. At the moment, the students are now back to school, just after receiving their uniforms.

Recruitment of Two indigenous teachers at local government Primary School:
With the support of OXFAAM GB, in April 2008 ECDO has recruited two indigenous teachers to teach students in their mother language for the first three years of education. Research has shown that most of the indigenous students struggle with the language barrier as it is their first introduction to Bengali language during their early years of school.

ECDO’s education related special feature in the Daily Prothom Alo;
http://www.prothom-alo.net/V1/archive/news_details_home.php?dt=2009-07-25&issue_id=1353&nid=MjUxNTI=
This causes mental anguish to the young students as they struggle to keep up with the mainstream students leading to higher drop out rates and low performance. The objective for this project is to overcome this language barrier for the indigenous students and ECDO is establishing this project as a pilot programme and if successful, ECDO’s aim is to appeal to the government to adopt this strategy for all schools with a high number of indigenous students.