The Educational and Cultural Impact of Sisimpur

PROGRAMME RESEARCH 20/2007/E 51

June H. Lee The educational and cultural impact of Sisimpur

Since 2005, the Bangladeshi Sesa- me Street.1 In Bangladesh, the me Street is broadcast on national groundwork for Sisimpur began in TV, and specially equipped rick- 2003 when a team from Sesame shaws bring the programme into Workshop visited Bangladesh to as- remote villages. Sisimpur has its sess the feasibility of an educational own special Muppet characters, TV programme for preschoolers. and the programme is found to fos- While Bangladesh has made signifi- ter basic literacy and mathematical cant strides in expanding primary skills as well as the notion of educa- school enrolment in the past decade tion being a joyful experience. (Lusk/Hashemi/Haq, 2004), govern- ment provisions for early childhood education programmes have re- “They teach you what ‘a’ is for, what ‘b’ mained limited. At the same time, te- sic literacy and math skills, health, hy- is for. I learn them. When they ask what levision is a popular medium with giene, nutrition, respect, understand- ‘jha’ is for, Tuktuki flies away in a ‘jhor’ growing reach among the population; ing, diversity, family and community (storm) and then comes down on earth it is also an important avenue for relations, and art and culture. Each again.” disseminating information (such as piece of content produced for Sisim- Ratul, Mirka village, Bhaluka, Bangla- pur addresses a specific educational desh (Kibria, 2006) on health; Associates for Communi- ty and Population Research, 2002). objective. atul, a boy from a village in Using television to deliver educational Sisimpur launched in April 2005 on Bhaluka in Bangladesh, is content promised to be a cost-effecti- Bangladesh Television, the country’s Rspeaking about Sisimpur, the ve way to provide informal early only national television channel.2 The Bangladeshi co-production of Sesa- childhood opportunities to children show is set in a village that centres throughout Bangladesh. around a sweeping banyan tree and The project’s educational objectives is dotted with homes and a sweet were shaped during a meeting in shop. As with many Sesame Street ad- Dhaka in 2004, where Bangladeshi aptations, Muppet characters lie at the educational advisors with a range of heart of the project: Tuktuki, a 5-year- expertise gathered and, together with old girl Muppet created to help pro- the production and creative teams, mote girls’ education, has a voracious crafted a set of educational objectives appetite for learning and cannot wait for the project that were culturally ap- to go to school. She lives on Sisim- propriate and reflected the most cri- pur along with neighbours Halum, a tical needs of Bangladeshi children. fun-loving Bengali tiger who is pas- These goals were formalised in a sionate about fish, fruits, and vegeta- “Statement of Educational Objec- bles; Shiku, a 5-year-old jackal who tives”, which serves as an educatio- is a scientist, inventor, detective, and nal framework for the series; they en- collector; and Ikri Mikri, an inquisi- compass diverse domains such as ba- tive 3-year-old monster Muppet with PROGRAMME RESEARCH 52 20/2007/E

© Photo courtesy of Bonnie Carlson a description of the among families with a TV set (Inter- project in Cole/Biel/ Media, 2006). Television ownership Pai, 2007). And a averaged 45 % overall; among these novel community households, 76 % of mothers were viewing programme aware of Sisimpur, and 75 % had conducted by ‘Save children who had watched the series. the Children’ brings Being successful in reaching the tar- the series to remote get audience is a first step toward villages via special- achieving broad impact. To determine ly equipped rick- the project’s educational impact shaws which enable among young children, a national sur- children who would vey was conducted among 9,704 otherwise not have mothers and 7,112 children ages 3 to access to watch the 8 (Associates for Community and Ill. 3: Community rickshaw viewing organised by Save the Children’s programme in large Population Research, 2007). Children SUCCEED programme groups (see ill. 3). were assessed on a variety of basic a vivid imagination. These Muppets Sisimpur is coming to the end of its skills, including literacy (letter iden- are joined by a cast of humans, in- 2nd season on air and has received tification and vocabulary), mathemat- cluding a primary school teacher, an funding for another 4 seasons of pro- ics (counting and number identifica- agriculturalist, a kind sweet-shop duction. Such an educational media tion), and socio-cultural knowledge owner, and a beloved grandmother. project is unprecedented in Bangla- (such as knowing local musical in- In addition to breaking new ground desh. As with many Sesame Work- struments, the name of the country, in the areas of media production, writ- shop international projects, the team and recognising disability). The re- ing, education, and research in Ban- commissioned summative research to search revealed that exposure to gladesh, Sisimpur featured an element evaluate Sisimpur’s impact on multi- Sisimpur was linked to better skills that has never been attempted on ple fronts. Specifically, third-party re- in all 3 domains: Children who watch- other Sesame Street co-productions. searchers assessed the project’s im- ed Sisimpur regularly (at least twice Bangladesh has had a long history of pact in terms of its reach among the a week) demonstrated skills equiva- puppetry and the local team felt that target audience, its educational effec- lent to non-viewers who were a year it would be important to represent this tiveness among children, and its in- older. Moreover, the intensity of ex- tradition on the programme. Under fluence on and perception within the posure was related to how well chil- the guidance of the production’s chief broader culture. dren performed on these measures: creative advisor and Bangladesh’s Children who watched Sisimpur fre- eminent puppeteer, Mustafa Monwar, quently usually performed best, fol- the producers created 3 marionettes Results of the summative lowed by those who watched some- – Bhutto, Gaanwalla, and Hatim – for research on Sisimpur what frequently; followed by non- the series. They occupy a special viewers. These associations remained place in the show in that these pup- Within 7 months of its broadcast, re- robust above and beyond the effects pets live in the character Ikri Mikri’s searchers found that Sisimpur has of family income, parent education, imagination and play out fantastical achieved broad reach, particularly child age and gender, and the child’s stories derived from traditional Ban- gladeshi folk tales. For the first time in the history of Sesame Street, local puppetry has been woven into a co- production, enriching the show and capturing the imaginations of Bangla- deshi children. The project includes a few other “firsts” for Sesame Street co-productions. An innovative “filmmakers project” that trained teenagers from rural areas in Bangladesh, gave young Ban- gladeshis an opportunity to produce live action segments for the series (see Table 1: Overall literacy skills by age of the children and exposure to the TV programme PROGRAMME RESEARCH 20/2007/E 53

content produced all over the world). Each co- production also has elements that reflect the lives of children in the country or region in which it was produced, in the form of live action films, animated segments, and a neighbourhood or “street” inhabited by Muppets and humans. While each international co-production is unique, they all share common elements that make each project distinctly Sesame. 2 With a grant from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Sesame Workshop and its Bangladesh production partner, Nayantara Communications, embarked on the creation of the first 2 seasons of Sisimpur.

Table 2: Overall maths skills by age of the children and exposure to the TV programme REFERENCES

Associates for Community and Population Research skills in the previous year (cf. table 1 ing, hand washing, and politeness. (2002). National Media Survey 2002. Report and 2). Sisimpur has also touched the lives prepared for the Bangladesh Center for Communi- Recent cultural anthropological stud- of adults who care for young children. cation Programs. Dhaka, Bangladesh. ies by Professor Nazli Kibria offer Educators reported that the series stir- Associates for Community and Population Research (2007). 2006 Follow-Up (Wave 1) Evaluation of the further insight into Sisimpur’s impact. red them to think more creatively Reach and Impact of Sisimpur. Dhaka, Bangladesh. Dr. Kibria’s research involved in- about how to teach their young Cole, C.; Biel, L.; Pai, S. (2007). Projecting youth depth interviews, focus groups, and charges. Some incorporated songs voices. Sisimpur Rural Filmmakers’ project in Bangladesh, In: Journal of Children and Media, observations among children, educa- from the show in their interactions vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 88-92. tors, parents, and community leaders, with their students; others were in- InterMedia (2006). Reach and Perceptions of and allows for a more intimate view spired by the Bangladeshi live action Sisimpur. Washington, DC. of the role of Sisimpur among these films that showed ingenious ways of Kibria, Nazli (2005). Social and Cultural Impacts of Sisimpur. Phase 1 Report. Boston, MA: Boston constituents. In a baseline study con- re-using discarded materials. Some University. ducted prior to Sisimpur’s launch (Ki- educators also noticed that their stu- Kibria, Nazli (2006). Social and Cultural Impact bria, 2005), Dr. Kibria found that the dents were more enthusiastic about of Sisimpur. Phase 2 Report. Boston, MA: Boston prevailing attitude toward early child- learning and came to school better University. Lusk, M. D.; Hashemi, R. C.; Haq, M. N. (2004). hood was one of “natural growth” rat- prepared with basic skills in literacy Early Childhood Education. Context and Resources her than a deliberate cultivation of and math. Findings among parents in Bangladesh. Report prepared for Basic Edu- skills that can help prepare children also suggest a shift toward regarding cation and Policy Support (BEPS) Activity, United States Agency for International Development for future success. Education was also parenting as a mindful and purpose- (USAID). regarded as a process of rote memo- ful task that involves active interac- risation rather than a joyful experi- tions with children. As one mother ence. During the follow-up inter- pointed out, “[Sisimpur] shows you views, one year after Sisimpur’s how you should behave with your broadcast, the research team detect- children” (Kibria, 2006, p. 25). These ed shifts in these attitudes. glimpses into stakeholders’ percep- The research team discovered that tions testify to how warmly Sisimpur Sisimpur was extremely popular not has been embraced by Bangladeshis THE AUTHOR only among its target audience of 3- and the ripple effects it has had in cul- to 6-year-olds, but also among older tural attitudes toward early childhood, June H. Lee, Ph. D., children. Researchers provided vivid parenting, and education. is the Assistant Di- descriptions of how much children rector for Interna- looked forward to the show. On sev- tional Research at eral occasions, researchers observed NOTES Sesame Workshop, the children keenly hoping that the New York, NY, power would not go out while they 1 While Sesame Street is a cultural icon in the USA. She works on content de- United States and in many countries in the West, were watching the episode. Some velopment and research activities many are less familiar with the range of interna- for Sesame Workshop’s internatio- children were very articulate about tional manifestations of Sesame Street. These co- productions (over 30 in number) vary in scale and nal projects in Bangladesh, Indo- what they had learnt from the show, draw from a rich array of existing material from nesia, and China. citing letters, numbers, tooth brush- the Sesame Street segment library (which includes