Bangladesh: Teaching Swimming, Preventing Drowning
In Bangladesh drowning is a leading cause of death among children aged 1 to 17. A pilot program aims to reduce that toll by teaching children to swim.
Access to quality education has a tremendous impact on the lives of people around the world, leading to positive outcomes in economic success and health. Pulitzer Center stories tagged with “Education” feature reporting that covers how education is used to improve standards of living, increase economic opportunity, and build a global middle class. Use the Pulitzer Center Lesson Builder to find and create lesson plans on education.
In Bangladesh drowning is a leading cause of death among children aged 1 to 17. A pilot program aims to reduce that toll by teaching children to swim.
Sea level rising in Bangladesh brings unexpected challenges, increasingly forcing humans and tigers into common habitats.
Satkhira district nervously awaits the next "mega-cyclone."
We came to the town of Koyra in this southern corner of Bangladesh to follow up on a news story about how river erosion had suddenly collapsed several houses, sweeping away a five-year-old girl in the process. These kinds of stories appear with alarming regularity, meriting only small mention in The Daily Star, Bangladesh's leading English newspaper.
As we continue production of "Easy Like Water," our film crew re-visited the solar floating schools, libraries, and adult education centers run by the Bangladeshi NGO Shidhulai Swanirvar Sangstha a year after our August 2009 visit.
This trip we spent seven days with students who use the Shidhulai services, meeting their families and documenting their daily lives, including 10-year-old Rupa Khatun, whom I will get to later.
A year after their first visit, the Easy Like Water film crew re-visits the solar floating schools, libraries, and adult education centers run by the Bangladeshi NGO Shidhulai Swanirvar Sangstha.
On Bangladesh's river islands, villagers contend with treacherous flash flooding, yet depend on water for jute farming, commerce, transportation, and recreation.
Bangladesh is a horizontal place, and water seeking its own level is constantly re-writing the geography.
On the front lines of climate change, the International Centre for Climate Change and Development offers innovative education programs in Bangladesh.
Easy Like Water is a feature documentary about floating schools, solar power, and the fate of the earth.
In Bangladesh, solar-powered floating schools are turning the front lines of climate change into a community of learning. As the water steals the land, one man's vision is re-casting the rising rivers as channels of communication, and transforming peoples lives. For more information, visit the Easy Like Water website.
Shaun McCanna, for the Pulitzer Center
In Afghanistan, the number of kids in school has grown more than six times since the Taliban were in power. But millions of children still wait, and classrooms and qualified teachers are lacking.