REMARKS

Shishimpur Seminar Closing Remarks

Sesame Street Bangladesh Content Seminar

March 15, 2005

I am pleased to welcome you here today to mark the successful completion of the Sesame Street Bangladesh Educational Content Seminar. The efforts undertaken as part of this seminar have helped identify the precise goals of the forthcoming Sesame Street Bangladesh Program.

This pioneering effort, the first of its kind on the subcontinent, promises to significantly increase the readiness of millions of Bangladeshi children for school.
As the father of a teenage daughter who grew up on Sesame Street, I know first-hand the importance of building a strong foundation for children to succeed and to develop a love of learning.

It is an honor to have the Minister of Finance, the Honorable Saifur Rahman, with us today to offer the keynote remarks for this ceremony.
I would also like to welcome the representatives of the Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs and the Ministry of Information.
We are grateful for your presence here today and thank you for your generous support of the Sesame Street Bangladesh program.

Other speakers this afternoon will include Mr. Gene George, the Director of USAID/ Bangladesh and Dr. Charlotte Cole the Vice President for Education and Research at Sesame Workshop.

The U.S. Government began its support of Sesame Street Bangladesh by signing a cooperative agreement with Sesame Workshop in June 2003. The purpose of this agreement was to support the design and development by a Bangladeshi production team of a local version of the “Sesame Street” series.
“Sesame Street Bangladesh” is expected to become a world- class production that will help build literacy and numeracy skills and promote critical thinking among Bangladeshi children. The program will also actively promote desired health, hygiene and environmental practices, as well as the education of girls.

We share the belief that educating all children, particularly girls, is key to accelerating the pace of growth in Bangladesh.
Based on extensive international research we know that when girls and women are educated, countries and their economies prosper. Girls' education not only supports increased economic productivity and incomes, but also has important social and political implications.

Sesame Street Bangladesh also offers the potential to impart skills such as cooperation, conflict mitigation, and encouraging mutual respect among young children. These skills are critically important in today's world and for children of all nations.

No one has done this better than the producers of "Sesame Street." For more than 30 years, they have combined education and entertainment to reach millions of children around the world to improve basic educational and social skills.

This approach validates the belief that distance education for preschoolers is an effective approach, especially in a country where TV penetration is growing rapidly yet access to pre-primary education is extremely limited.

The high return on investments in early childhood development is widely documented and strongly supports programs to better prepare children for school.

I would like to conclude my remarks by again thanking Mr. Saifur Rahman as well as the representatives from the Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs and the Ministry of Information for their support of the Sesame Street Bangladesh program. I am confident that this series will be one of the most successful international co-productions in "Sesame Street" history and that millions of Bangladeshi families will benefit for years to come.
Thank you.

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Note:  A Bangla translation of this article is also available from the American Center.  If you are interested in the translation, please call the American Center Press Section (Tel: 8813440-4, Fax: 9881677; e-mail: DhakaPA@state.gov; Website:  dhaka.usembassy.gov).