After about 18 months, the government has decided to re-open educational institutions in view of the improvement in the situation of covid-19 in the country. So primary, secondary, and higher secondary educational institutions across the country have been gradually reopened with many safety protocols. Since the children will start going to school after such a long time, so besides the celebration of Child Rights Week 2021 ActionAid Bangladesh provided reusable masks among about 15,000 children as one of the tools to stay safe from coronavirus, and exercise books to encourage them to study with a fresh zeal. Every child received two exercise books in red and green color. The cover pages of these books contain descriptive illustrations on child marriage, coronavirus, dengue fever, climate change, and drowning. Based on the learning of the awareness sessions that the children have participated in throughout the year, they have presented their reflections through drawing competitions. The best pictures from there are used here.

Before the distribution of the exercise books and masks, the importance of protecting oneself from the deadly coronavirus was discussed again. There has also been a lot of discussion with the parents and children about the bad consequences of child marriage, coronavirus, dengue fever, climate change, and drowning issues. Now children have a better understanding of the results of child marriage, as well as ways to stay safe from coronavirus and dengue fever. They are also now more aware of what needs to be done to prevent climate change and they have been encouraged to plant trees. They are now interested in learning to swim to prevent accidents through drowning. One child Sadia (14) said, “I am very happy to get the exercise books that ActionAid provided me and many of my friends. Exercise books price is getting higher day by day in the shops and the big one what we are provided by AAB cost more. These exercise books look very nice too.” She also added, “I have read the messages it contains. Though I know this earlier about child marriage and COVID-19, but this notebook message is easy to understand, and it will remind us of all time about our actions and duties for dealing with all those crises. In fact, no matter if anyone wants to skip reading, even two photos of these notebooks are self-explanatory. However, I am happy that I can bring two new exercise books with me in my class. I have shown all the messages that were presented here to my class friends. They are also very happy to read these colorful messages and learn a lot of important information.”

In addition to celebrating Child Rights Week 2021 through a variety of discussions and competitions, the children are very delighted to receive these colorful masks and exercise books, which will be useful for them to stay safe from coronavirus and encourage them to return to their educational institutions after a long lockdown.