Feature

Education without Borders

Tanzina Rahman

"I just couldn't believe that these things were right in front of us, around us and we had hardly noticed them till now.”

Fourteen year old Rehnuma was in awe after taking part in the Perception Programme organised by her school- Maple Leaf International School. Part of the DFID Global School Partnership (DGSP) programme, this activity indeed was an eye opening experience for her and many others who had little knowledge about the global development issues like child labour, human rights, pollution, climate change, poverty and illiteracy.

“The students learned about the inclusive sides of our society,” explained Humaira Fatima Jalil, a teacher of Maple Leaf International School who coordinated the programme in the school.

“Disability is a taboo in our society. Physically handicapped people are often separated. After visiting institutions for the physically challenged people, our students realised that they are no different than us. That with little help they too can have a normal life,” said Ms. Humaira.

Projects like this and many others concerning global issues such as sustainable development, energy/water conservation, human rights, citizenship, drug abuse, sexism, sports for girls were initiated in five different schools by DFID Global School Partnership (DGSP) in 2006 to analyse its success in the grounds of Bangladesh. Upon receiving sanguine results, DGSP has been finally launched where Bangladeshi schools will be connected with UK schools. The programme provides advice and guidance, professional development and grants to schools that are using school partnerships as a means for developing a global dimension within their curriculum. It targets a total of 175 school links to be established by March 2012.

Global School Partnership is a consortium initiative of the British Council, Cambridge Education Foundation, UK One World Linking Association (UKOWLA) and Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO), funded by the Department for International Development (DFID). Nurul Islam Nahid MP of Ministry of Education, Professor Salma Akhter, Director, Institute of Education Research, University of Dhaka and Chris Austin, Country Representative, Department for International Development (DFID) inaugurated the project.

DGSP allows the students to explore their perceptions, recognize connections and to think critically about cultural, economic and political differences. By sharing ideas with their peers from developing country like UK, they get involved in the wider community where they become the problem solver.

As schools today feel the urgency to provide a global overview of the world in the classrooms by means of their curriculum, Global School Partnership links play a crucial role to raise awareness among the youth about the global issues through interactive activities and equip them with the skills to become active global citizens.

The term "global learning" has become a catch phrase these days. Recognising and understanding the need of today's world is imperative to compete. Organisations like British Council are thus bringing the best among the youth by interweaving a global dimension within the formal curriculum. Besides DGSP, British Council is also coordinating other programmes to nurture the young generation such as the Connecting Classrooms (CC) which is an international school partnership project to strengthen inter-cultural dialogue and integrate international dimension into school curriculum, and International Inspiration (II) which is also an international programme to empower sports and physical education among the youth.