SISIMPUR, THE BELOVED CHILDREN’S PROGRAM, BEGINS AIRING NEW SEASON WITH NEW CHARACTERS AND CELEBRITY APPEARANCES ON BTV
Sisimpur, Addressing Local Children’s Issues, Also Brings Children More Laughter and Adventures!
New York, NY, and Dhaka, Bangladesh, 16th June, 2006
You already know and love Halum, Tuktuki, Shiku, and Ikri from the award-winning series Sisimpur, but get ready to meet a brand new character named Mukul. Mukul went away from Sisimpur for his higher education, but now he’s back setting up his own nursery and farm. He is a horticulture specialist. Mukul will join the Sisimpur friends this season on Bangladesh Television (BTV) airing every Friday at 9:00 am; Saturday, Tuesday, and Wednesday at 2:00 pm beginning this week!
The Muppets are also back with more fun adventures. Halum will become a Vegetable Champion (Shobji Palowan) and, through a fun new song, will tell everyone the secret of his strength. Tuktuki will dress up as a classy TV host and bring funny parodies of Bengali films, TV and stage dramas- with her new segment “Tuktuki’s Opera.” Shiku finds himself a new hobby! He invents machines which spurt out new kinds of food and beautiful paper decorations. Ikri is back with her wonderful stories with Nanu. Joining her imaginary friends Bhuto, Gaanwala, and Hatim, is Konkaboti. Together, they cross the ocean on a big fish, go inside a mountain, and send a fallen star back to the sky.
More celebrities are joining the show this season. The great cricketer Ashraful will play cricket with Tuktuki, while actor Abul Hayet, comedian Amal Saha, and dancer Nipa all visit Sisimpur.
Viewers can watch for new live action films which were filmed in Dhaka, Narail, Brahmanbaria, Faridpur, Jessore, Barisal and Tangail. We will meet many new friends who will bring their stories from all these places in Bangladesh to share with us. You will see stories about their pets, about learning to ride a bicycle and to swim and many, many more activities. Our young directors from Tangail are back with their fun live action films, and this season, another group of young directors have joined our team of live action directors from Barisal.
Sisimpur is targeted to 3-6 year olds. Sisimpur encourages children to learn a range of cognitive, social and emotional skills related to literacy, numercay, health, diversity, family and community, and Bangladeshi culture though humor, music, fantasy and daily life situations. In addition, the series develops local capacity in early childhood education, research, content development, production, and education outreach. Carefully researched and culturally appropriate segments provide engaging content for pre-school age children.
The content of Sisimpur has been carefully researched and designed by the local educators and child development experts to reach preschool children with age-appropriate content to address both academic and social issues most relevant to Bangladeshi children. In Season 2, Sisimpur will have a special focus on “disability and vulnerability.” Through the show, Sisimpur will teach children that disabled and vulnerable children are a part of our society and they are just like every other child. Sisimpur will show these children in their normal lives as normal children – singing, dancing, and dreaming – just like any other child.
Sisimpur is produced by the nonprofit educational organization Sesame Workshop and Nayantara Communications in Bangladesh. Mostafa Monwar, the world renowned puppeteer, remains chief creative advisor.
This season, Sisimpur will be sponsored by Pepsodent, a leading brand from Unilever Bangladesh Ltd. Similar to Sisimpur, Pepsodent also through it’s various activities promotes good oral health and hygiene habits to school going children And funding for season two has been made possible once again through the generous support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
