NEW CHILDREN’S SERIES FEATURING BANGLA-SPEAKING MUPPETS, ANIMATION & LIVE ACTION SEGMENTS DEBUTS ON BTV

Bangladesh Adaptation of Sesame Street to Address Local Children’s Issues

New York, NY, and Dhaka, Bangladesh, April 12, 2005
Sesame Street just welcomed a new addition to the family! Sisimpur, the Bangladeshi adaptation of award-winning children’s television series Sesame Street, is debuting this week on Bangladesh Television (BTV). Co-produced by the nonprofit educational organization Sesame Workshop in New York and Nayantara Communications in Bangladesh, Sisimpur features Bangla-speaking Muppets, animation, and live-action segments. 

Targeted to 3-6 year olds, Sismpur encourages children to learn a range of cognitive, social and emotional skills related to literacy, numeracy, health, diversity, family and community, and Bangladeshi culture through humor, music, fantasy and daily life situations. In addition, the series develops local capacity in early childhood education, research, content development, production, and educational outreach. Carefully researched and culturally appropriate segments provide engaging content for pre-school age children.

Sisimpur features four Muppets specially developed for Bangladesh. The characters include: Halum, a tiger who enjoys playing and laughing, even when things go wrong; Shiku, a curious jackal who comes from a long line of clever family members, but is actually very naïve; Tuktuki, an extroverted 5-year-old girl who enjoys being helpful but is usually doing ten things at once; and Ikri Mikri, an affectionate 3-year-old who tries to do things by herself but doesn’t always succeed. The Sisimpur characters are actively engaged in the learning process as they are introduced to letters, words and numbers. They also learn about the differences and similarities in various cultures.

The content of Sisimpur has been carefully researched and designed by 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.

Nayantara Communications is producing the series in Bangladesh, with world renowned puppeteer Mostafa Monwar serving as chief creative advisor. Funding for Sisimpur was made possible through the generous support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).