Govt to set up 35,000 digital labs to facilitate girls’ access to ICT

State Minister for Information and Communication Technology Junaid Ahmed Palak has said that 35,000 ‘Sheikh Russel Digital Labs’ would be set up in the country by 2025 to educate more girls and young women in ICT.

“The government is going to establish 35,000 modern digital labs all over the country which will encourage and give more access to girls and young women in ICT,” he said.

The state minister made the remarks while addressing a roundtable meeting organised by Aspire to Innovate (a2i), Grameenphone and Plan International on International ICT Girls' Day on Thursday.

He said that female students would be encouraged, directly and indirectly, to become proficient in ICT education with such institutions.

Girls need to be interested in modern technology, science, engineering and mathematics to build a future-oriented, skill-based education system, the state minister for ICT said.

Mentioning that a national curriculum for coding and programming would be introduced in the primary level from the next academic year, Palak said that teachers and parents needed to play a special role in motivating students in this regard.

Palak also mentioned that 64 Sheikh Kamal IT Training and Incubation Centres are being set up across the country to create IT-dependent employment for students completing secondary and higher secondary education.

He called upon the government, as well as all parties concerned, to play a responsible role in mentoring and monitoring the trainees.

Among others, BASIS president Syed Almas Kabir, Plan International Bangladesh representative Oral Murphy, senior director of BRAC KM Morshed, BACCO president Wahid Sharif, Dhaka University professor Lafifa Jamal, Grameenphone's human resource head Syed Tanvir Hossain were present at the programme.