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About This Study Visit
In early 2025, a group of 16 to 19-year-old students from a secondary school and sixth form in East London travelled to Sylhet, Bangladesh for a nine-day education, cultural and skills-based immersion programme fully funded through the Turing Scheme. Most of the students were of Bangladeshi heritage but had never visited Bangladesh, and several had never left the UK at all.
The programme was designed around two aims: building practical academic skills in entrepreneurship, leadership, IT and mathematics, and giving participants a deeply personal experience of discovering the country, culture and family connections that form part of their own identity.
IBD Partnership Group coordinated every element of this Turing Scheme study visit, from consulting about how to get funding through to on-the-ground delivery in Sylhet, working in partnership with local education institutions across the region. IBD has been delivering Turing Scheme programmes since the scheme launched in 2021 and has supported more than 60,000 participants across 30+ countries since 2005.
The combination made for one of the most distinctive and emotionally resonant programmes IBD has delivered. These were not students visiting a foreign country as tourists. For many, Sylhet was where their parents or grandparents grew up, a place they had heard about all their lives but never seen. The Turing Scheme funding made it possible for the entire cohort to go regardless of household income.
The group received a VIP welcome at the airport with a police escort on arrival, an experience that set an immediate tone of warmth and significance for the nine days that followed.
Feedback from Participants
The following feedback was collected by IBD Partnership Group at the end of the programme.
“Meeting my relatives and seeing the culture up close was amazing. I feel way more confident and connected to my family now.”
Labiba, age 16, East London
“Teaching younger kids at the local school was cool. This trip made me realise how different life can be in another country and gave me a new perspective on things I take for granted.”
Aaqibul, age 17, East London
Learning Objectives of This Study Visit
- Develop practical skills in entrepreneurship, leadership, management, IT and mathematics through real educational settings
- Deepen understanding of Bangladeshi heritage, history, culture and family connections
- Explore environmental sustainability practices through visits to local estates, riverfronts and community projects
- Improve confidence, communication, problem-solving and intercultural awareness
- Gain a new perspective on global inequality, opportunity and the value of education
What Did The Students Do in Sylhet?
Over nine days, the group visited six schools across Sylhet, both in the city itself and in surrounding villages. The contrast between urban and rural educational settings was striking and deliberate: students encountered children learning in very different conditions from those they had grown up with, and that encounter produced some of the most significant moments of reflection the programme generated.
At each school, the London students participated in collaborative lessons and workshops rather than simply observing. They were asked to co-teach, to present, and to work alongside local pupils on shared projects in mathematics, IT and entrepreneurship. Peer teaching, standing up in front of a class of younger children and explaining a concept, proved to be one of the most powerful activities in the Turing Scheme programme. Students who described themselves as shy or lacking confidence in their own school came back having taught lessons in Bangladesh, and the effect on their self-perception was marked.
The heritage and cultural strand of the programme ran alongside the school visits throughout the nine days. Students visited family members, sometimes meeting relatives they had never met in person, and engaged with the landscapes, food, customs and community life that connect directly to their own family histories. These were not scheduled activities in the traditional sense: they were genuine human encounters that no classroom could replicate.
Environmental sustainability formed a distinct thread through the Turing Scheme study visit. The group visited local estates and riverfronts, observing agricultural and environmental practices that offered a direct contrast to urban London life, and that connected to geography and environmental science learning back home. The experience of seeing how communities manage land, water and waste in a rapidly developing country gave students a concrete, real-world context for abstract environmental concepts.
