Mr. Kenji Inoue and Ms. Masako Inoue, Japanese delegates from Kumon Educational Japan Co., Ltd. (KIE), have recently paid a three-day visit to Bangladesh from 27-29 March, 2017. The purpose of their visit was to meet with BRAC-Kumon team at BRAC Institute of Languages (BIL), BRAC University.
KIE is an organization that offers private tutoring through an individualized instruction in its Kumon centres and practices the Japanese educational method of mathematics and reading. The first Kumon centre was opened in Osaka, Japan, in 1985. As of November 2014, over 4.3 million students have enrolled under Kumon method in more than 30,000 Kumon centres in 49 countries around the world.
In Bangladesh, Kumon was first introduced in BRAC Education Programme with funding from Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). The pre-piloting began in November 2014 in three of the BRAC Primary Schools (BPS) for mathematics. BIL is currently working with Kumon in partnership with BRAC to establish the first Kumon centres in Dhanmondi and Uttara neighbourhoods of Dhaka by August, 2017, to offer its programmes for students from all tiers of the society.
During their stay, Mr. Inoue and Ms. Inoue visited other potential neighbourhoods, accompanied by BRAC-Kumon team, in search of an ideal location for their upcoming centres. In addition, both teams held meetings to discuss issues such as business plans, training programmes, and so on. Moreover, BRAC Research and Evaluation Department (RED) conducted a seminar on a market research study of Kumon perspectives in Bangladesh, which was chaired by Lady Syeda Sarwat Abed, Director of BIL, and Professor Abdul Bayes, Director of RED.
At the end of the visit, the Japanese delegates conveyed their appreciation of the initiatives undertaken by BRAC and BIL and also expressed their aspiration to expand their support in the development programs conducted in Bangladesh.