Ground breaking on 16 December 2014, our victory day

On 16 December 2014, we have met with the masons on the school ground for site marking. The head mason is a member of the School Managing Committee (SMC). Its wonderful that he is very enthusiastic about the work and he wants to render his service free of cost. I will have to pay the other masons and helpers. We could not make any contract as the rural masons are not used to this type of landscape work. They will work on daily basis, it would be a bit expensive but we dont have any other option.

16 December is our victory day, 43 years back we have become independent on this very day from Pakistan. It was not pre-determined, but this happened and I only noticed this co-incidence while writing this blog. This is the day when we started ground breaking in primary education (may be an over-ambitious statement) in Bangladesh with the help of some very inspirational young architects.

We have marked the grounds and the masons started digging for foundation of the brick work. Simultaneously we were designing the contour/ small hill at the corner of the school ground. The south-west corner of the school ground is the adventure play area. We will have a small hill there. Already 5 pick-up of soil was transported to the site. This evening the ground will be filled with 5 more pick-up of soil.

It feels like we can rely on the member of the SMC and the masons who live very close to the school. They were present in the meeting I have organized with the villagers and SMC members. They believe that I am trying to do something for children's better education. I am hopeful that we will be able to execute the design we are planning.

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Successful completion of the Workshop entitled 'The role of School building and outdoor environment on children's learning'

We were supposed to hold this workshop in the beginning of February. Due to some unavoidable reasons we had to postpone it but we are really happy to inform you all that the workshop was held last saturday, 14 March 2015 at Raipura PTI, Narsingdi. Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology was a partner in this effort. The purpose was to disseminate the knowledge we have gathered through the process of our research on children's environment. We talked about the school environment as a whole with an emphasis on the outdoor environment of primary schools. I have worked with Tulatoli Government Primary School very closely for the last few months. During this period I have shared my views and opinions with the teachers and also come to know about many things in close interaction with the teachers for hours. While I was in Edinburgh me and Dr Simon Bell thought about organizing a workshop so that we can include the design ideas from diverse group of teachers for the developm...

Progress of Work: Day 28

We are almost at the last phase of our construction. Masonry work is finished, bamboo work is a little bit slow and still going on. We have planted plants and the water plants are in site too. Here are some pictures taken today on Day 28. Figure 01: Outdoor Classroom Figure 02: Lerning with loose parts Figure 03: Shelter/ Learning in groups Figure 04: Natural Learning area (We could only plant some plants but this not the planting season. They will grow during the rains) Figure 05: Garden/ Growing area Figure 06: Water learning area

Progress of work: End of Day 10

The work is going on in full swing in the school ground of Tulatoli Primary School, Narsingdi, Bangladesh. Its wonderful to see that the process is already having an impact on children and adults in various ways. The children who visit the site in different times are engaged with different activities using different loose parts (outcome of construction work, construction materials). They are already using the small hills (we are planning to plant grass to make it grassy hills in the adventure play area). They climb up and down the hills, used a small piece of wood to make bridge. They are making fountains using water and sand. They are also helping in the construction work in many ways- bringing bricks to the place of construction, working to give a shape to the grassy hill and helping in local plants search etc. Here are some photos... House/Shelter/Learning in Groups Outdoor Classroom/ Gathering area Mound/ Grassy Hills Children making fountains

Matluba from Bangladesh

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