Educate the Most Disadvantaged Children (EMDC)
Stage 1 report – programme overview and descriptive analysis
Highlights
Bangladesh has expanded access to primary education, yet many children, especially those from low-income, ethnic minority and other marginalized groups, continue to face significant barriers to learning.
The Educate the Most Disadvantaged Children (EMDC) programme addresses this challenge by providing accelerated, ability-based learning opportunities for out-of-school and at-risk children aged seven to 14. Through community-run learning centres, locally recruited female teachers, targeted instruction and real-time monitoring, the programme helps learners rapidly recover foundational literacy and numeracy skills and prepares them for reintegration into formal schooling.
The initiative has already reached more than 243,000 children across five districts, with positive results: 84 percent of learners successfully transitioned into formal schools, and nearly all achieved basic reading and numeracy competencies despite starting from significantly low learning levels.
This EMDC report presents early programme findings, highlights key implementation approaches, and shares preliminary evidence on learner outcomes and community engagement. It also outlines future research plans to understand long-term impact, cost-effectiveness and strategies for scaling effective practices.
