Our Social Impact Outreach to Advance Languages using the Arabic script (Est. 2013)
Early childhood education in languages using the Arabic script including Persian, Urdu, Kurdish, Pashtu, and Punjabi remains outdated. Arabic, which is the world’s 4th largest language, and of great spiritual significance to 1.6 billion Muslims worldwide is even considered endangered. Yet education is a fundamental human right which millions of children and adults remain deprived of in the 21st century. Children, parents and educators are in dire need of new learning materials and methods.
Literacy in Arabic, Persian or Urdu is of concern primarily to countries in the Middle East and North African (MENA) region. But in a globalized world, we now have Arab, Iranian, South and Central Asian and other Muslim communities around Europe, Australia and Americas who seek to raise their children bilingual.
So why is education important? According to
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Education beats poverty
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Education promotes gender equality
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Education reduces child mortality
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Education contributes to improved maternal health
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Education helps combat HIV, malaria and other preventable diseases.
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Education encourages environmental sustainability.
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Education helps global development.
So why have languages with the Latin script, like English, German or Swedish mastered early childhood education?
The 19th century founder of progressive education, Frederick Froebel believed learning should be a playful and early experience. In 1840 he introduced the Froebel Gifts…wooden building blocks! American education reformer Caroline Pratt improved the Froebel Gifts by inventing unit blocks…and the rest is history!
Wooden cubes and unit blocks are now found in every European and North American home, nursery, kindergarten and elementary classroom. Revolutionizing literacy and advancing key motor and cognitive skills in generations of children—credited with educating and developing entire nations!
Scientists agree! They’ve shown that most normally
developing children can learn to memorize the alphabet
and core elements through play as early as 12 months of age—
proving that in children, block play supports crucial
developmental capabilities such as:
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Fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination which are the ability to hold a pen to write & draw, brush teeth, & tie shoes.
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Cognitive skills, meaning the ability to understand simple cause-and-effect principles, thought-filled learning process, how different objects relate to 1 another, & pre-mathematical explorations.
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Also the capacity for creative, divergent thinking
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As well as social interaction and language skills
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Plus literacy
But not all blocks are well-made. Plastic blocks are full of toxins, they are bad for those who make them, for our environment and for our children. Even wooden blocks made under abusive working environments in China, or else with soft wood, like Lindenwood are of substandard material and educational quality.
The ideal wood block is made of quality hardwood using non-toxic materials and sourced from sustainable forests.
In 2013, a visionary educator and an award-winning typographer (Dr. Bashi™) set out to do the same for languages with the Arabic script, coupled with a unique artistic, democratic, race and gender conscious goal. Creating the world’s #1 pedagogically advanced Arabic and Persian wood blocks in Vermont, USA.
A single set of Dr. Bashi™ woodblocks in any home and classroom can help advancing literacy, empowerment and citizenship.
Dr. Bashi™ is seeking individual investors and distributors who specialize in Public Sector Government Purchasing (Department of Education, NGOs) in Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan and Arabic-speaking countries (MENA region) as well as in Europe (Germany, Sweden, Norway) and North America.
At this moment, Dr. Bashi™ offers considerable discounts on wholesale orders on their current inventory of Arabic and Persian blocks made in Vermont, USA and they have the capabilities to take in orders to make bilingual blocks (e.g. Arabic/English or Persian/German), educational blocks in any world language or in any particular theme (chemistry, geography, botany, history, stories and much more)! Contact us today!
