Sharon McConnell, Chair of the Literacy Committee for the Rotary Club of Belleville and it seems the "go to" person in the District in the area of literacy has provided an update on a program in Bangladesh.
 
The popular one-to-one reading tutoring program operated for close to a decade by the Rotary Club of Belleville in partnership with the YMCA, unfortunately could not be sustained by a volunteer organization as it was very labour intensive.  The good news is that now the contents of this program have been converted to a Digital Reading Program.  Each lesson is demonstrated with a live tutor and a live student; the app can be run on a laptop, tablet or cell phone.  The first project being undertaken by the Literacy Committee for 2021 is helping children in one the poorest parts of the world.  Working with the Amarok Society in Bangladesh, we have provided 20 new cell phones for the Amarok Society Mothers in turn to each teach a minimum of 5 children.  These Mothers have already taught their students basic literacy skills in Bangla, using tablets and cell phones and are now progressing to teach reading in English.   A more complete update on this project is scheduled for an upcoming Board presentation.  Here is a photo of the Mothers receiving the new phones.