BRAC's education programs offer children with joyful, inclusive, and quality learning opportunities
The effects of poverty and crises on children are profound and long-lasting, and the poorest and most vulnerable children are the least likely to access quality learning opportunities. Delivering education to marginalized communities is at the heart of BRAC’s education programs, enabling these children to grow into active, engaged, and resilient adults capable of navigating shocks and overcoming adversity.
Your Impact
countries where children access learning opportunities
children were reached through Play Labs globally
children graduated from BRAC schools
of teachers are women
BRAC’s cradle-to-career education programs empower the next generation of learners to reach their full potential.
BRAC’s early childhood, primary, secondary, and tertiary education programs reach tens of thousands of learners who often would not otherwise receive a quality education, including girls, children with disabilities, remote communities, and learners affected by crisis. Through joyful, community-driven approaches, all BRAC students have the opportunity to learn, grow, and thrive.
Our approach
Play Labs, BRAC’s flagship model for early childhood education, offer high quality, low-cost, playful learning opportunities to children ages three to five in underserved communities. Play Leaders, who are young women from the local community trained in play-based pedagogies, facilitate playful activities and child-led play that support children’s physical development, language development, and critical socio-emotional skills such as self-regulation, empathy, and critical thinking. In addition to learning through play, play also enables children who have experienced trauma or stress to heal and develop resilience. Play Labs also engage caretakers and communities in parenting sessions and play material development workshops, bringing the core elements of the model into the home to ensure learning also happens outside the classroom. Studies also highlight the value of Play Labs, showing that playful learning positively influences children's development and resilience.
Early childhood development
BRAC’s primary schools are defined by their joyful, community-driven approach. Teachers, who are women drawn from the local community, are trained to favor child-friendly, participatory approaches over rote learning. They lead playful activities such as songs, dance, art, and games that enable children to build critical soft skills in addition to learning reading, math, and other core subjects. This has proven to be a winning combination: students from BRAC primary schools consistently outperform students from government schools on standardized tests despite coming from poorer families.
Primary Education Program
BRAC’s education offerings stretch into adulthood, enabling older learners to gain the skills they need to thrive in today’s job market. For young people ready to pursue a career, BRAC’s skills development and vocational education programs offer training in demand-driven trades to prepare learners to join the workforce or start their own business. BRAC also supports thousands of students from disadvantaged backgrounds through scholarships for secondary and higher education. In 2001, BRAC founded BRAC University in Bangladesh to prepare bright, eager young people to become leaders and innovators in their fields.
Tertiary and Vocational Education Programs
Our work in action
The power of play
Through play, children build creativity, social skills, self-confidence, and resilience. Hear from Play Lab staff, parents, and children and discover the power of play in Tanzania and Uganda.
Education is the most important tool for development. It is the catalyst for all positive change.”
Program Highlights
New research underscores the centrality of play in early childhood development
Play Labs are safe spaces where children can engage in playful learning activities to foster their growth and development. New research reveals play can improve children’s development and reduce learning gaps.
Related Research
Play Labs research brief: Tanzania and Uganda
A two-year study of BRAC’s Play Lab model in Tanzania and Uganda demonstrates that children in Play Labs showed clear developmental gains.
Radio Play Labs research brief: Uganda
A study of BRAC’s Radio Play Lab model in Uganda, the first RCT of its kind, has revealed that nudge-based interventions are an effective tool to increase listenership and caregiver engagement.
Play Labs research brief: Bangladesh
A two-year study of BRAC’s Play Lab model in Bangladesh has revealed that the intervention achieved a primary but elusive aim of early childhood education: to ensure that, when starting formal schooling, all children are equally developmentally equipped to benefit from it.
