ATDP holds 'Bring Your Children to Work Day' programme

In a unique effort to teach children about the world of work, Agro-based Industries and Technology Development Board II (ATDP-II) held a programme, 'Bring Your Children to Work Day' here on Monday.

In line with the principle of "Learning by Doing", the event gave children an opportunity to learn about business through direct exposure, a US Embassy press release said yesterday.

It said the idea of bringing children to the workplace originated from the popular programme in the US called "Bring Your Daughters to Workday". The idea behind this US programme was to get girls interested in business at an early age by seeing what their parents, particularly their professional mothers, did at the business workplace.

At the time the programme was started in the US, opportunities for women in leadership positions in business were limited. The ATDP-II programme builds on this concept and adds boys to the programme, the release added.

It said this is the first such corporate initiative in Bangladesh to acquaint children with the business environment. Twenty-five children between the ages of 5 and 15 attended the daylong function. Each was assigned real work to do in the office.

They also had a guided tour of the US Embassy and tour the ATDP-II Seal of Quality (SOQ) office. At the SOQ office, they saw a model shrimp pond.

In its next 'Bring Your Children to Work Day' programme, ATDP-II intends to take the youngsters on a field visit outside of Dhaka to a number of agribusiness concerns that are ATDP-II clients.