The formative evaluation was conducted to assess the outcome of Shishu Bikash Karjokrom (SBK) and pre-school activities of the Early Childhood Development (ECD) project of Bangladesh Shishu Academy (BSA). 

The specific objectives of the school readiness initiative of the ECD project are to:

• promote all areas of child development (motor, cognitive, language, social, emotional and autonomy)
• help children build their confidence, skill and abilities from early life
• foster children’s enthusiasm and love for learning
• encourage parents/caregivers to take part in creating early learning opportunities for children
• generate ideas for using low-cost and household materials as learning aids and
• prepare children for school

Four partner agencies—Brac, GS of Grameen Shikkha, BSA, and city corporations—are implementing the SBK and pre-school programs across the country.

Data were collected about a representative sample of learning centers run by each partner agency, all other required samples emanating from that representative sample, to obtain a valid assessment of the school readiness activities carried out under the centre. A total sample of 110 learning centers, giving 170 sessions as the BSA and city corporations have both SBK and pre-school at a learning centre, were used in the evaluation, including 30 of the 67 centers run by the BSA, 30 of the 130 centers by Brac, 30 of the 206 centers by city corporations, and all of the 20 centers run by Grameen Shikkha.

The survey was sponsored by Unicef, Dhaka, Bangladesh.