Bangla Language and Cultural School

In the mid 1980′s the Bangladeshi community in Canberra felt the need for a community school in the ACT. They established the Nabaroon Bangla School with a view to imparting Bangla teaching to children and to providing awareness of the rich cultural heritage of Bangladesh. The activities of the school went smoothly for a while, however, due to the smaller size of the community and the shortage of adequate number of children the school could not operate and had to be closed for a year or so.

With the increase in the number of Bangla speaking families living in Canberra, the community members felt the need to reopen the school. The school reopened in 1992 with reinvigorated enthusiasm and was named as Bangla Language and Cultural School.

The school has developed different programs to teach Bangla language and culture. Apart from textbook and classroom teaching of the Bangla language, the children are taught various cultural activities, such as songs, dances and drama. Modern teaching aids such as audiocassettes, videos and Internet are also used as a form of communication to the students of the school.

The Bangla Language and Cultural School is currently run by a management committee comprising community members, with a Principal and a Treasurer looking after the day-to-day affairs of the institution. The school operates every Sunday at the Canberra College, Woden Campus, Launceston Street, Phillip ACT 2606.

The students of the school regularly perform socio-cultural activities at various functions organised by the Bangladesh Australia Association Inc in Canberra (a community organisation of the Bangladeshi in the ACT), at Multicultural festivals, and also at the Ethnic Schools Day.

Over the years the Bangla Language and Cultural School has grown considerably in terms of enrolment of students and resources. The school has in its collection over a thousand books in Bangla script a good number of audio and videocassettes. The school is open to members of other communities in the ACT. It encourages members of the non-Bangla speaking communities to learn Bangla language and be aware of the diverse cultural aspects of Bangladesh.