Save the Children in Bangladesh launched a study report titled ‘Mapping ICT in Education Initiatives in Bangladesh’ has documented the ICT initiatives in education by the government, local and international NGOs and the private sector throughout Bangladesh.
The report was launched Saturday, January 31st, 2105 at Spectra Convention Centre, Gulshan, Dhaka.
Primary and Mass Education Minister Mostafizur Rahman was the Chief Guest at the event. He shared, “Multimedia classrooms have been set up in 20,500 secondary and 1,515 government primary schools across the country facilitating modern-method teaching for 4.2 million students.”
The minister also said though the government has firm commitment to improve quality of education, expected results cannot be attained due to ‘lack of sincerity’ of different quarters involved in the sector.
The function was told that the classrooms have been equipped with laptops, projectors and Internet modems, and the teachers imparted training on use of the classroom facilities for enhancing teaching and learning.
Photo Caption (Left to Right):
Elizabeth Pearce, Education Sector Director, Save the Children; Sharon Hauser, Save the Children Program Development and Quality Director; Advocate Mostafizur Rahman, Minister, Primary and Mass Education; Anir Chowdhury, Policy Advisor to Access to Information (a2i) Programme at PMO
The study, ‘Mapping ICT in Education Initiatives in Bangladesh’, found that ICT is being used, to some extent, for e-content development, teacher training, web portal creation for e-content sharing and teachers’ networking, and also in community learning centres for underprivileged groups.
But it is not being widely used to support student assessment, e-learning, programme monitoring and evaluation.
According to Save the Children, the information gathered in the study will help exploration and review of the ICT in education with a view to guiding strategic thinking about the use of technology in Bangladesh’s education sector.
Primary and Mass Education Ministry Joint Secretary Faizul Kabir, Policy Advisor to Access to Information (a2i) Programme at PMO Anir Chowdhury, and Save the Children Program Development and Quality Director Sharon Hauser and Senior Education Adviser M Habibur Rahman, among others, spoke on the occasion. Representatives of local and international NGOs and private organizations and government officials also attended the ceremony.
The report lists NGOs/INGOs and major businesses that are working for ICT integration in Bangladesh Education Sector:
- Activity for Reformation of Basic Needs (ARBAN)
- BBC Janala
- Bangladesh NGOs Network for Radio and Communication (BNNRC)
- BRAC
- BijoyPrathomik/ShishuShikha
- British Council
- Champs21.com
- Dhaka Ahsania Mission (DAM)
- Dnet
- Educo
- JAAGO Foundation
- Light of Hope
- Save the Children
- Sesame Workshop
- Shikkohok.com
- Shonod
- YPSA