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During a virtual ceremony on Thursday, Ambassador Miller praised the 20 young women and 20 young men for their hard work in completing the course during the pandemic and encouraged them to continue their studies to prepare for the future.
“As Bangladesh approaches the 50th anniversary of its independence, there’s no better time to recognise the power of young minds – like yours – to solve problems and shape the future of our increasingly interconnected world,” he said.
The English Access Microscholarship Program is a two-year interactive programme that builds a foundation of English language, American culture, and leadership skills for 13-20-year-olds from economically disadvantaged backgrounds and helps them to become more competitive for higher education and employment opportunities.
Currently, 132 students are enrolled in Access programmes in Dhaka, Rajshahi, Sylhet, and Chattogram.
Two hundred additional students will start the programme in 2021. Since the programme began in 2004, more than 1,200 Bangladeshi students have successfully completed it.
Today’s graduating class joins 95,000 other Access programme alumni in more than 85 countries.
Today’s graduating cohort is the first group of Access students in South Asia to attend Access classes online – transitioning from in-person to online learning following the COVID-19 outbreak last year.
The group is also the Embassy’s first-ever cohort of Access students from Dhaka-area vocational schools.
The Global Educators Initiative for Sustainable Transformation (GEIST) International Foundation, the Embassy’s implementing partner for this Access program, played an integral role in helping convert the interactive in-person course and materials to an online course.
The Access programme is one of US Embassy Dhaka’s many initiatives to strengthen and expand people-to-people ties and educational linkages between the United States and Bangladesh, enhance the quality of education locally, and empower Bangladeshi youth through innovative learning opportunities.
Global Educators Initiative for Sustainable Transformation (GEIST) International Foundation partnered with the US Embassy to deliver this Access programme.
GEIST is a Bangladesh-based nonprofit organisation, founded by alumni of US government exchange programmes, and is focused on teacher training and English instruction.
Its membership includes 1,000 students, 400 teachers, and 580 professionals from the education and development sectors.
Currently, GEIST works with alumni of US-funded teacher training programs in 143 partner educational institutions in India, Nepal, Vietnam, Columbia, Cambodia, Guatemala, Iraq, Ukraine, Turkey, Russia, Columbia, Lithuania, Nigeria, Germany, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, and France.