Stories of Change | IHF Celebrates Universal Children’s Day 2020
‘Stories of Change’ is an initiative from the IHF team to celebrate Universal Children’s Day (UCD) along with the entire world. Every year IHF celebrates Universal Children’s Day with several activities across all our campuses. While coping up with the new normal, this year we have designed the program virtually with an expectation of outcomes focusing on the mental health condition of children during this pandemic. In the program, children aged 09 – 14 years old have shared their experiences about the kind of challenges they are facing, opportunities they would like to grab, learnings from this period and ultimately how do they want to see the world after the pandemic. The respected guest speakers also shared their recommendations on what guardians should do to support their children’s mental health development during a pandemic.
IHF successfully celebrated ‘Stories of Change’ from 20th November to 26th November with seven particular episodes live on Facebook where children from various background participated. Every episode had a specific theme supporting to the core of Universal Children’s Day and according to that guests from various professional backgrounds participated to share their experiences.
Episode 01: Mental Wellbeing of Children During Lockdown
Theme of Episode 01 was “Mental Wellbeing of Children During Lockdown”. Episode 01 was moderated by Ms. Mahreen Mamoon, Education Consultant, IHF and Assistant Professor, BRAC University. The honorable guest for the episode was Mr. Munir Hasan, Head of Youth Program at Prothom Alo. Mr. Munir discussed the necessity to maintain a health mentality during the lockdown for children and also how impactful education system can be for the mental growth of a child.
The event was a success with the participation of three children: Minal from South Bridge School, Fatiya from BAF Saheen School and Mounotha from Shatkhira Govt. Girls High School.
Episode 02: Special Needs in Special Time
Episode 02 of Stories of Change was conducted with the theme of “ Special Needs in Special Time”. The honorable guest for the episode was Mr. Md Shah Moazzem Hossain, Adjunt Lecturer, Bangladesh Institute of Special Education. Mr. Moazzem discussed how significant the effect of lockdown can be for children with special needs. He also discussed the important role of parenting and how to use this time to develop mental state of special child during this lockdown.
The episode was moderated by Ms. Aftuza Tanzi, Management Trainee, IHF. Aymaan from Hurdco International School, Tridib from BAF Saheen School joined and made the event a success by sharing their pandemic stories.
Episode 03: Learning in the Lockdown
Guest for episode 03 was Ms. Farha Mahmud Trina, Vice Chairman, Investment Committee e-CAB. She is also and Educator at Australian International School. She discussed learning aspects of children during lockdown from the perspective of an educator and also as a mother. She also discussed how parents should cooperate with their children in the lockdown specially with online education system.
This episode was moderated by Mr. Md. Ikrar Imtiaz, Management Trainee, IHF. To make this episode a success Keyaan from Grace International School. Simin and Samina from Shaeed Bir Uttam Lt Anwar Girls College joined and shared their stories.
Episode 04: ECD Now and Beyond
As the theme for episode 04 was based of Early Child Development, Ms Anjuman Parvin a specialist in ECD and Parenting Expert & Mental Health Practitioner joined as the honorable guest. She discussed key topic of Early Child Development and also discussed about the special care that children needs during a situation like lockdown.
Shamiha from South Point School & College and Triyasha from Monipur School & College joined us on this episode to share their pandemic experiences and the episode was moderated by Mr. Saheel Mahmud, Volunteer, IHF.
Episode 05: Keeping Busy in Quarantine
The theme of episode 05 was “ Keeping Busy in Quarantine” and the honorable guest for the episode was Ms. Adiba Ajanee, Director, Education Program, IHF. Ms. Adiba discussed interesting facts and ways that children can use their time effectively during this lockdown. She focused of extracurricular activities that can help children to enhance their mental development during pandemic.
This episode was moderated by Afruza Tanzi, Management Trainee, IHF. Ayman from Sunbeam School, Ramisa from Uttara High School and Jannatul from Viqarunnisa Noon School and College joined the live event to share their stories.
Episode 06: The Role of Stories in Our Life
The theme of episode 06 is the “The Role of Stories in Our Life”. To discuss this Ms. Farin Daulah, Fonder & President, One Circle and Zareen Mahmud Hosein, Founder & ED, HerStory Foundation joined us. Both of our guests discussed the key importance of stories in our life and how educational and impactful they can be. Ms. Zareen later on discussed about how stories can connect people and also how it can be used to develop mental state of children during this situation like pandemic.
This episode was moderated by Afruza Tanzi. Management Trainee, IHF. As out participants – Suhana from Bir Uttam Lt Girls College, Proma from Agrani High School and Somaiya from Monipur High School joined us.
Episode 07: Panel Discussion
The seven-day live program of ‘Stories of Change’ UCD celebrated by IHF concluded by brief panel discussion. The moderator of this session was Ms. Adiba Ajanee, Director, Education Program, IHF. Guests for this panel discussions were Mr. Md. Adnan Hossain, Founder & Chairman, IHF, Dr. Md. Ahsan Habib, Professor, Educational Phycology, IER, University of Dhaka and Ms. Sharmin Akter, Lead Specialist in CEO’s Office, Grameenphone Ltd. The episode started with a warm welcoming message from Mr. Adnan and later on it was carried by very energetic performance of few of our participants from previous episodes. After that Dr. Ahsan discussed briefly about children phycology during pandemic and how can we overcome the loss that was made during this time. Ms. Sharmin also shared her point of view as a working mother. Many key points were discussed during this episode. Later on Mr. Mukul Alam, Director, Corporate Relations and Communications and Abu Saleh Faysal, Web Developer, Dikkha joined the live session from the event sponsor panel. They discussed about the necessity of the child development during situation like lockdown.
The event was a great success as we were able to know about the mental health condition of children during this pandemic. As well as to know their experience about what kind of challenges they are facing, the opportunities they could grab, their learning from this period, how do they want to see the world after the pandemic & find out some recommendations for guardians to support children to children’s mental health development. We are very grateful towards our sponsor and partners of the event – Arla Dano, Goofi World, Dikkha and Solving Box.
-Ahmad Sakib Sadman, Partnership & Communications, IHF