Cultural Impacts of Sisimpur, Sesame Street, in Rural Bangladesh

Sisimpur is an educational children's television program in Bangladesh that is co-produced by Sesame Workshop, the makers of Sesame. Street. Sisimpur's goals include the support of Early Childhood Development (ECD) objectives in Bangladesh, such as the teaching of pre-academic skills to young children. In this paper we draw on qualitative research to explore how Sisimpur and its benefits are viewed by the family inembers and teachers of children in rural Bangladesh. Our results suggest that Sisimpur is valued by these caregivers as a source of ideas and information about how best to raise children. We argue that Sisimpur's favorable reception is related to the success with which it has portrayed children on the show as both connected to Bangali traditions and able to take advantage of the opportunities for modern education available to them

Developing country · Economic growth · Pedagogy · Political science · Public relations · Qualitative research · Rural area · Social science · Sociology · Poverty, Education, and Child Welfare · Psychology · Socioeconomic Development in Asia · Sociopolitical Dynamics in Nepal