As a parent, you may be worried about your children’s well being that they might turn violent because of the kinds of shows on children’s channels these days. Even the non-stop cartoons include a lot of violence. During his or her early years, a child is vulnerable to all kinds of material. Hence, the child is affected by whatever catches his or her eye. With the new Al Jazeera children’s brainchild “Baraem,” children from three to six have something simple, joyful and enlightening to watch during the day. Launched in mid-January, Baream programs are all in Arabic and some of the programs are exclusively designed and produced by the channel.
Baraem is considered the first pre-school Arabic television channel for children from three to six and offers a range of programs specifically made for them.
Having initially launched Al Jazeera Children’s Channel in 2005, the executive general manager, Mahmoud Bouneb described Baraem as “a historical dπevelopment in television history in the Arab world.”
The channel aims at educating young audiences and facilitating their safe interaction with the surrounding world. The channel accompanies children through their early learning years and offers a useful content that helps them develop both social skills and intuition.
Baraem broadcasts 17 hours daily and its strategy is designed specifically to help not only pre-schoolers but their mothers as well during their daily routines.
The feedback on the channel since its launch has been positive and constructive. “Baraem strives to complement the efforts of mothers and nurseries in watching children grow up happy and content,” said Bouneb.
Next to the colorful and joyful channel, Baraem also created a website (baraem.tv) that is specifically designed to aid mothers, nursery and kindergartens teachers by providing them a collection of innovative, child-engaging ideas and tools for everyday activities.
The record of the website visitors exceeded 100,000 hits during the first month. “This is in addition to the phone calls and e-mails received by our viewers relations team,” Bouneb added.
“Our children do need something useful when they start to learn how to use computers and the Internet,” said Maha Fouad, 32, and a mother of three.
Fouad’s youngest child is three years old and she has been preparing him for school next year. “I was delighted about the Baraem channel but more happy about the website,” she stated, adding that the color game on the website helped her child to memorize some of the colors.
The moment you log on to the website, a butterfly, a fish, a chick and a smiley leaf welcomes you to the website and asks you to choose an icon. Moreover, children’s games, educational tools and activities sufficient to prepare preschoolers for school with age-appropriate knowledge of Arabic writing and language are all in the website.
Baraem airs up to 15 percent of its own produced content and up to 85 percent of acquired programs carefully selected from international production houses matching the channel’s editorial policy and broadcast guidelines.
Among the programs broadcast on the channel, Nan and Lili, an innovative, educational and interactive animation program and the Al-Maaa Family, a skin character family, are all produced by Baraem.
With the aim of broadcasting specialized preschool programs, Baraem is free, using Arabic as the only language in order to reach Arabic speakers in the Middle East and Europe on Arabsat, Nilesat and Hotbird.
“The feedback received from parents, educationalists and other industry players, makes us believe that the channel has a high viewership,” Bouneb added.