Sir Fazle Hasan Abed, KCMG, the founder and chairman of BRAC, along with Mr. Takeshi Ito, Minister of Japan Embassy, and Mr. Atsushi Yamada, President of Kumon, Asia and Oceania, launched the first Kumon center in Dhanmondi, Dhaka, on October 03, 2017, with a grand opening ceremony. Kumon is part of Kumon Education Japan Co., Ltd., which is an organization that offers private tutoring through an individualized instruction in its Kumon centres and practices the Japanese educational method of teaching mathematics and reading.
The ceremony officially began with words from Lady Syeda Sarwat Abed, Director of BRAC Institute of Languages, followed by a speech by Mr. Nehal Bin Hasan, Project in Charge of BRAC-Kumon Team, Mr. Yamada and Mr. Ito respectively. This was followed by a speech by Sir Abed, who explored the reasons behind why BRAC and BRAC Institute of Language chose to enter into partnership with Kumon.
Sir Abed stated that he had been looking for an opportunity to introduce Kumon in Bangladesh ever since he learned about it. That opportunity finally came in 2013 when a meeting was arranged between the President of Kumon and Sir Abed. As a result, BRAC initiated its pre-pilot program in 2014 in different schools of different areas in Bangladesh. With the initial results showing promise, BRAC and BIL launched its pilot program in 2016.
Sir Abed also mentioned that the BRAC Kumon Project plans to open 20 more centres in Dhaka by 2021. The goal of this project is to bring a national-scale change through this highly accredited educational system so that children across the country are benefitted by this innovation in education.