JAAGO Foundation wins UNESCO award

Korvi Rakshand, founder of JAAGO Foundation, received the UNESCO King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa Award for the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in education in Paris on February 21, 2017. The award is the recognition of JAAGO Foundation's work   in eradicating poverty by providing quality education through ICT to the underprivileged community in the remote areas of Bangladesh through online school.
Since 2005, the UNESCO King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa Prize recognised innovations in teaching and learning that leverage technology to improve educational outcomes. JAAGO Foundation and another organisation were selected by Irina Bokova, director-general of UNESCO on the basis of recommendations made by an international jury of five independent and recognised experts in the area of ICT in education from each region. The UNESCO King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa Prize aims to contribute to equity in education, a key pillar of the Education 2030 agenda, and the guiding principle of Sustainable Development Goal 4. The new agenda recognises how ICT can be harnessed to assist historically underserved groups and assure inclusive and equitable quality education and lifelong learning for all by 2030. The theme for the 2016 edition of UNESCO King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa Prize for the use of ICTs in education was the use of ICTs in education for disadvantaged groups.
JAAGO Foundation has been operating in 10 online schools in Bangladesh in partnership with Grameenphone Ltd. and Agni Systems Ltd. JAAGO Foundation is also running three conventional schools for underprivileged children. Online schools provide quality education in remote areas of Bangladesh through video conference system, thus providing high quality teaching staff from Dhaka. The award was announced by Daniel Burgos, chairman, International Jury for the Prize. Irina Bokova, director-general of UNESCO handed over the prize to JAAGO founder in the presence of Shaikh Muhammad Bin Mubarak Al Khalifa, deputy prime minister and Dr. Majed Bin Ali Al-Noaimi, minister of education of the Kingdom of Bahrain at the headquarter of UNCESO in Paris.
Korvi in his speech thanked UNESCO for the recognition of the efforts they have put in the last 10 years. He also expressed his gratitude towards the partner organisations, Grameenphone and Agni systems without whom the online school initiative would not have been possible. He said this award will not only boost the confidence but will also help spread the word and create more partnership in Bangladesh and beyond to take quality education to the most remote parts of the world. He also thanked UNESCO for giving the award on the  February 21 which is very dear to his heart. Bangladesh is the birthplace of International Mother Language Day. In 1952, the student movement in Bangladesh fought to protect their language, Bangla.  In 2000 UNESCO declared February 21 as International Mother Language Day. He ended his speech in Bangla thanking the people of Bangladesh for supporting JAAGO Foundation. A remote school was connected with UNESCO headquarters in Paris and the students interacted with the audience. One of the students gave a short presentation on Bangladesh and the audience was amazed to be connected with the children in the live class.

The writer is working as communication officer for Jaago. He completed his honours degree in Marketing from East West University. He can be reached at nazmus.saleh@jaago.com.bd