ChakmaSpoken first, by a native speaker Audio
Banglaভূমিধস
EnglishLandslide
Chittagong Hill Tracts, Bangladesh
Climate knowledge in the language of home.
Agrani teaches indigenous children climate science in their mother tongue, and turns them into Climate Messengers who protect their families.
Chakma firstMarma & Tripura nextBangla & English as bridges
Why Agrani exists
She was translating twice before she could learn once.
When the monsoon warning came, it was in Bangla. Her grandmother speaks only Chakma. At school, the climate lesson was in Bangla too.
The official warningভারী বর্ষণের সতর্কতাHeavy-rain warning, in Bangla only
A child in betweenShe works out the Bangla, then finds the words at home.Translation one, then translation two
Her grandmotherHears it last, in Chakma, if she hears it at all.The person most at risk, reached last
In landslide season, that delay can cost lives.
How Agrani closes the gapThe problem
The risk is rising. The knowledge arrives in the wrong language.
Lessons, textbooks and safety materials are in Bangla. Many Chakma, Marma and Tripura children speak another language at home. Warnings are often too technical, and language barriers make them less effective.
152
people killed when monsoon rain triggered landslides in Rangamati, Chittagong and Bandarban in June 2017.
2017 Bangladesh landslides700+
people killed by landslides in the Chittagong hill districts between 2000 and 2018.
FAO, via Financial Express59%
of children dropped out of primary school in the hills, even with 95% enrolment. Out of school, they miss the lessons that could protect them.
BANBEIS 2016, cited in IEC 2023Our insight
The language barrier isn’t just an education problem. It’s a climate vulnerability.
Children who can’t learn about climate in their own language can’t protect their families or lead adaptation. And the knowledge that kept hill communities safe for generations, like avoiding the steepest slopes and building stilted homes that let water pass beneath, is rarely written down.
The solution
One cycle connects the classroom, the household and the elders.
Each pillar does one job. Children learn, act, preserve and protect, and every year the cycle makes the next one stronger.
01 · In the mother tongueLearn
Climate Classroom
A short climate course for Grades 3 to 5, taught in the child’s mother tongue with offline lessons and native-speaker audio.
Read more 02 · Learning into actionActSchool Climate Clubs
Students plant bare slopes, grow tree nurseries, save rainwater and map safe routes through their village.
Read more 03 · The two-way bridgePreserveElders’ Knowledge Bank
Children record their grandparents’ climate wisdom, and it becomes new lessons. Learning flows both ways.
Read more 04 · Through the monsoonProtectClimate Messengers
Official warnings become short voice calls in local languages. Trained students help every family make a plan.
Read moreRunning through every pillar
The Language Ladder
Agrani supports Bangla and English. It never replaces them. Every child climbs from home outward.
Step 1 · AnchorMother tongue
Children understand climate concepts in the language they think in.
Step 2 · BridgeBangla
They move gradually to Bangla, so they can read official warnings and pass national exams.
Step 3 · WindowEnglish
They learn English climate vocabulary, so they can join regional climate conversations.
Three-language vocabulary cards
One word, three languages, one picture.
Every Climate Classroom lesson comes with picture cards. The home language is heard first, recorded by native speakers, then Bangla and English sit beside it.
A year with Agrani
We follow the hills’ climate calendar.
Children learn and prepare before the monsoon, and act during it.
Jun – Oct
Relay the warnings. Stay ready.
- Official warnings relayed as voice calls in local languages
- Messengers explain warnings at home
- Results recorded, from warning to delivery
Built for the hills
No internet in class. No smartphone at home.
Lessons live offline on the teacher’s phone. Warnings arrive as free voice calls to any basic phone. A new language needs local volunteers and recordings, not new technology.
Why it scalesAny phone will do
Warnings arrive as voice calls to basic phones. Nothing to install, nothing to read.
People check everything
AI helps draft and simplify lessons. A native speaker verifies every one before it reaches a child.
At least half are girls
Among Climate Messengers and Climate Club leaders, by design rather than by luck.
Official warnings only
Agrani never writes a warning. It relays official ones, using messages verified before the season.
Learn in the language of home. Lead in the languages of climate action.
Climate knowledge only protects people when they can understand it. Help us run the first pilot through one full monsoon.