British Council chief reaches Bangladesh to strengthen ties

Scott McDonald, the chief executive of the British Council, reached Bangladesh on Tuesday for a three-day visit, with a view to strengthening educational and cultural cooperation between the two nations.

During his visit to Dhaka and Rajshahi, Scott will meet government representatives, education leaders, teachers, students, young people and cultural partners, while seeing first-hand the impact of British Council partnerships across the country.

On the first day, Scott met Education Minister ANM Ehsanul Hoque Milon to discuss Bangladesh’s education priorities and opportunities for UK-Bangladesh collaboration.

Scott also met representatives of 10 Minute School, one of Bangladesh’s largest online education platforms and a British Council partner, to discuss expanding access to English language learning and internationally recognised assessment.

Later he met UK alumni and attend the “Connecting People, Sharing Impact: British Council Grantee & UK Alumni Showcase”, where alumni and grantees shared their work and experiences and discussed how their work has contributed to connections and knowledge exchange between the UK and Bangladesh.

Speaking about his visit, Scott said, "The British Council has been in Bangladesh since 1951 and we have built deep connections, over generations through education, culture and the relationships between the people of the UK and Bangladesh. I am delighted to be here to see those connections in action and to hear directly from the partners, teachers, students, young people and cultural leaders who are shaping them.”

"Bangladesh is a country with enormous ambition and a dynamic young population. I look forward to exploring how the British Council can build on our longstanding partnerships, bring together expertise and ideas from both countries, and create more opportunities for people in Bangladesh and the UK to learn from and work with one another."

As part of his visit, Scott will travel to Rajshahi to meet teachers, students, young people, education leaders and cultural organisations involved in British Council-supported programmes.

At Helenabad Government Primary School, Scott will meet teachers and students and mark the launch and handover of the British Council’s “English Teachers Needs for Professional Development Analysis Report.”

Based on interviews with 641 teachers and observations of 32 classrooms across Bangladesh, the report looks at teachers’ professional learning needs and ways to improve teacher development and the education system. The visit also builds on the British Council’s work with Bangladesh’s primary education sector, including programmes that have helped strengthen the skills of around 1,700 Master Trainers.

In Rajshahi, Scott will meet Project Headway leadership to discuss the longstanding partnership and opportunities to strengthen collaboration in IELTS, British curriculum education and English-language assessment.

At Varendra Research Museum, Bangladesh’s oldest museum, Scott will see the impact of a Cultural Protection Fund partnership with Durham University focused on heritage preservation, professional skills and institutional capacity.

Scott will also meet young people involved in the Youth Connect: Digital Citizenship and Misinformation Resilience project. The initiative has trained 120 young people from Rajshahi University and Varendra University in digital citizenship and identifying and tackling mis- and disinformation. Participants have taken their learning into their communities through student-led action projects.

He will also attend a performance of Tobuo Jege Uthi (Still I Rise) at Rajshahi Zilla Shilpakala Academy by Spardha Independent Theatre Collective, supported through the British Council’s Women of the World Grants Programme.

Scott’s visit will conclude in Dhaka with engagements focused on higher education, international partnerships and the British Council’s network of more than 210 partner schools across Bangladesh. He will join a stakeholder gathering on the Higher Education Acceleration and Transformation (HEAT) partnership and attend the British Council Partner Schools Principal’s Meet 2026.