Room to Read Bangladesh

Room to Read Bangladesh was officially established in 2008, and program operations launched one year later. Our Literacy Program encourages fluency and informs national curriculum, while our Girls’ Education Program builds upon the development of life skills to help girls graduate and negotiate key decisions.

Room to Read helps overhaul national curriculum

After launching our programs in Bangladesh, literacy education improved at primary schools across the country. In 2019, Room to Read Bangladesh conducted an assessment of early-grade children we support in Government Primary Schools. Reports showed, 59% of children at the end of Grade 2 were correctly reading more than 45 words per minute (WPM) — an international benchmark.

We witnessed the commitments of the local communities and school authorities through initiatives such as launching community-run independent libraries, adopting Room to Read's teaching instruction standards in schools as well as scaling/replicating Program components in non-program schools.

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Celebrating secondary school graduation

In 2019, participants in Room to Read's Girls' Education Program in Bangladesh secured significant success in both Secondary School Certificate (SSC) and Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) exams. The pass rate in SSC among our Program participants was 96.11 percent with the national rate being 82.20 percent. In HSC, our pass rate was 79.53 percent — higher than the national rate 73.93 percent.

Prevalence of child marriage remains a challenge to girls' education initiatives in Bangladesh. In Natore, secondary schools organized a community-level conference and girls led discussions that engaged their parents, local leaders and teachers, and secured commitments to stop child marriage. In 2019, Room to Read Bangladesh supported the cessation of 97 cases of child marriage and the prevention of 383 cases of dropout.

“We just want all children to have access to quality education. That's what drives us all the time.”

Rakhi Sarkar Bangladesh Country Director

The Children of Cox's Bazar: education inside and out of the Rohingya Refugee Camp

In 2017, 400,000 Rohingya Muslims fled Myanmar to escape genocide. Since then, one million Rohingya refugees have settled into Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. Nearly 500,000 of them are children and they — like all children — deserve access to quality education.

Watch our video to see how Room to Read is partnering with other organizations to bring education to the children of Cox's Bazar.

By the numbers: Room to Read's Cox's Bazar Project with Rohingya Refugees

With the influx of Rohingya refugees to Cox’s Bazar since 2017, we have adapted technical assistance programs to support the region and its refugee population. We are helping to assess students’ literacy in English and Myanmar and develop teaching and learning materials. We are also focusing on capacity strengthening to improve school enrollment, attendance and literacy. Combined, these projects will reach more than: