Sir Fazle Hasan Abed, founder and chairperson of Brac, has been awarded the “Lego Prize 2018,” in recognition of his outstanding contribution towards improving children's lives and their opportunities to play, learn and develop gradually.               

Thomas Kirk Kristiansen, chairman of Lego Foundation, handed over the award to Sir Fazle Hasan Abed at an event in Denmark on Tuesday, said a press release issued by Brac.

The award is accompanied by a cash award of USD 100,000 that will be used to strengthen Brac's support for children living with neuro-development disabilities and their families, the release added.

The Lego Foundation has been giving this award since 1985 to individuals and organisations who are committed to improving the lives of children.

Finnish Educationalist and Scholar Pasi Sahlberg, President of Reggio Children Carla Rinaldi, and Founder of Right To Play International Johann Koss are among the previous winners. Save the Chidlen also received the award in 1985. 

 “It is an honour to receive the esteemed  Lego Prize. Every child deserves the opportunity to grow and develop. This generous financial contribution will support the holistic development of an underserved group of children in Bangladesh with special needs,” said Sir Abed, while receiving the award.

“At Brac, we pride ourselves on taking an innovative approach to early childhood development and education and share the Lego Foundation's passion for learning through play. Through our play lab programme, we have seen the impact it can have in a child's development” he added. 

Brac has set up over 1,400 play-based early childhood development centres across Bangladesh, Tanzania and Uganda, where close to 40,000 children aged 1 to 5 years are presently enrolled. Of these, some 1,200 centres known as “Khelar Jogot” are located in Bangladesh.

In addition, it operates some 10,000 pre-primary schools, 3,200 non-formal primary schools, 8,700 primary schools and a university. Brac also provides technical support to 3,846 primary schools.

Since launching of the non-formal education programme in Bangladesh in 1985, more than 11 million children have graduated from Brac's primary and pre-primary schools.