Literacy program involves 100 churches in first
five years

Of Bangladesh’s 130 million people no fewer than 70 per cent are categorised as illiterate or semi-literate. Most live in rural areas and they include many Christians who attend country churches but cannot read the Bible.

Pilot scheme

Partly with them in mind, the BBS, in co-operation with the UBS and Bangladesh Danish Lutheran Mission, started a pilot literacy scheme in 1990. A woman volunteer drew up a plan for a set of study materials consisting of 16 books and 34 audio cassettes.

The scheme aims to develop the reading and writing skills of semi-literate or illiterate Christians and to increase their knowledge of the Bible at the same time. It is expected that an increase in Bible knowledge will naturally produce spiritual developments as well.

In 1996 the program began in a few churches representing five different denominations in the north and south of the country.

The literacy program is intensive: the groups, mostly 10 or 15 people, meet for an hour and a half each day on five or six days each week; they listen to the tapes and read or sing along with them.

At the moment the program is working in 112 churches representing seven denominations. The latter include the Bangladesh Baptist Fellowship, the Church of the Nazarene, the Seventh-day Adventists, the Free Christian Churches and the Talitha Koumi Evangelical Churches.

Listening groups

Alongside the curriculum for church-based learners entitled The Way of Salvation, the BBS has also developed a curriculum for use by village listening groups called Good News for New Readers. The Society provides not only the books and tapes but the cassette players, if necessary, as well. The resources are provided at variable rates: some groups pay the full price, some the price they can afford and poor groups pay nothing. Each group is run by a facilitator. The work of the facilitators, in turn, is overseen by a field supervisor and the field supervisors are responsible to a Field Coordinator.