JAAGO Foundation received “The 2016 UNESCO King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa Prize” in recognition of its’ “Online School” project for innovative use of information and communications technology (ICT) in the field of Education.
The theme for this year’s Prize recognized the urgent need to respond to major obstacles that lie in the path of the most vulnerable populations with regard to equitable and inclusive access to quality education and lifelong learning.
JAAGO Foundation had been reaching underprivileged children in rural areas of Bangladesh through its’ Online School program that provides learners with high-quality courses through interactive video-conferencing. Instruction, covering English, Bengali, and mathematics, as well as natural and social sciences, is delivered by highly trained teachers based in the capital. With 1,061 annual beneficiaries, JAAGO Foundation aims to help bridge the educational quality gap between urban and rural students in Bangladesh.
The determination to spread quality education to the most remote areas got a new dimension when JAAGO Foundation inaugurated its’ online school started in 2011 in Gazipur as a pilot project with 80 students.Soon the idea of online schooling and synchronous learning through internet proved to be a leap towards an educational revolution especially in context of Bangladesh, as our country has not experienced this schooling method before. Currently, JAAGO Fundation is operating 10 online schools in Gazipur, Rajshahi, Gaibandha, Madaripur, Bandarban, Lakshmipur, Dinajpur, Rangpur, Hobiganj, and Teknaf.