25 Jun 2020

Resilient Fellow: Students never stopped learning

Shaila Sharmin, Teach For Bangladesh Alumna

Like so many Primary Completion Examinees last year, 12 years old Samir was anxious about his life’s first public exam. It was also difficult for him to stay at home without going to school and away from his friends during government-mandated lockdown and prolonged school closure.

But Samir was fortunate to have a teacher like Shaila Sharmin, who believed in this very different world; educators can never stop educating children. And she introduced online classes over Facebook and WhatsApp, where she taught 25% of her students and gave feedback to ensure learning never stopped.

Seeing her enthusiasm, her school’s Head Teacher showed interest in online classes. Shaila also developed workbooks with other Fellows to reach out to the students for the remaining 75% of her students who did not have access to the internet.