British Council trains primary teachers for stronger nation

The graduation ceremony of the 5th cohort of primary teachers under the Training of Master Trainers in English (TMTE) project, a collaboration between the British Council and Directorate of Primary Education (DPE), was held recently at 12 Primary Teacher’s Training Institutes (PTIs) across the country.

Additional Director General of the Directorate of Primary Education Dilip Kumar Banik, and Training Division Director of the Directorate of Primary Education Dr Uttam Kumar Das were also present at the ceremony, said a press release.

Activities under this latest cohort of TMTE had been designed by the British Council in collaboration with DPE for 544 primary teachers, who received training to improve English proficiency and exclusive guidance on communicative teaching practice and methodology to make the English language learning more interesting and effective for primary school students. It was a 14-week programme.

In his speech, Dilip Kumar Banik said, “We need to impart proper education to our students which will help them to survive in this competitive world. The training British Council is delivering on behalf of the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education (MoPME) and Directorate of Primary (DPE) Education will enable our students to contend anywhere they go.”

Dr Uttam Kumar Das said, “We have provided this training to 1,733 teachers across Bangladesh in the last two years and they will be spread across 65,566 schools all over Bangladesh. If this training can be taken further to the community level, then our students could be prepared for a better future.”

As a part of the government’s 2018 “Primary Education Development Programme 4” (PEDP4), the British Council awarded the large training programme initiative English for Primary Teachers (EPT). Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has approved the project with utmost priority on developing children’s English learning proficiency.

In the following year, the government approved TMTE (a Tk 47 crore project) pivoting the national education reformation plans. TMTE stands out as a dedicated training project, where the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education (MoPME) engages with Primary Training Institutes (PTI) across the country.