Transformation of education system a must: Jabbar

The country needs to update its education system by including digital content, ensuring digital connectivity and access to digital devices to achieve the goal of Digital Bangladesh, Post, Telecommunication and IT Minister Mustafa Jabbar has said.

He was speaking at a virtual panel discussion on 'Inclusive Access for Blended Education in Bangladesh' organised by the Ministry of Education, Posts and Telecommunications Division, Information and Communication Technology Division, Meta (Facebook) and International Telecommunication Union (ITU) on Thursday.

"We are now treading the path of blended education as it is difficult for a developing country like ours to go through the digital transformation of education in one step by tackling all the challenges," he said.

"To meet the challenges of transforming the educational system, we are setting up high-speed broadband connectivity at every union of the country including remote areas, providing connectivity to inaccessible and remote char-island areas through Bangabandhu Satellite-1, launching of 5G, manufacturing digital devices in the country and making digital devices readily available," the minister said.

Jabbar said the government was setting up digital classrooms at 650 primary schools in remote areas to ensure digital content education. Free WiFi zones have already been set up at 587 educational institutions. We have also upgraded mobile connections from 3G to 4G in almost 98 per cent of the country to ensure that students take online lessons during Covid-time. We have started setting up 12,000 more free WiFi zones in remote and inaccessible areas across the country.

"Apart from making the internet accessible, we also encourage investors to build smartphone factories in the country to ensure that digital devices are readily available and affordable. Already 14 mobile factories have been set up in the country," he said. He said the monthly price of the internet was reduced to a minimum of Tk 285 per Mbps. Now it has been set below Tk 100 after the announcement of one country one rate. Before that, in 2008, the price of internet per Mbps was Tk 27,000. On the other hand, where eight lakh internet users used 8 Gbps bandwidth in 2008, now more than 11 crore users use 3,000 Gbps.