You would think that one would talk about technology in a workshop on Blended Education For All (BEFA). We mostly talked about everything but technology.
And rightly so.
As I was speaking of transforming Bangladesh’s education with technology at the workshop, Education Minister Dr Dipu Moni promptly corrected me.
“We are not merely transforming our education. We are transforming Bangladesh itself.”
Last week, as we remembered the transformational speech delivered by Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on March 7, 1971 that gave birth to Bangladesh, I reflected that Bangladesh will require, once again, to spread unshakable faith amongst all its people.
In 1971, the impossible was establishing Bangladesh as an independent nation.
In 2009, the impossible was building Digital Bangladesh out of a poor country with frequent electricity load-shedding and very little technology.
In 2022, the impossible is to propel Bangladesh to become a high-income country in less than two decades, by 2041 -- and one which is equitable, not with gross inequality as witnessed across the world.
Yet, there remains what appears to be another impossible dream for Bangladesh -- the dream of quality education in our country for each and every student.
But, Bangladesh is a country of impossible achievements.
And, as the education minister rightfully said, transforming our education will transform Bangladesh.
I have mentioned the BEFA taskforce -- led by the education minister and consisting of cabinet ministers, secretaries, chairpersons, DGs, representatives from private sector and non-profit sector, educational thinkers and technologists -- in my previous columns, who continue to work tirelessly to establish a framework for what the future of education will look like in Bangladesh over the next two decades.
And I am happy to report that we inch closer and closer to that goal -- of laying the foundation of transforming education in Bangladesh as we know it. This past week, the taskforce got together over a two-day workshop, developing ideas and adding to the masterplan of the blended education framework that we intend to integrate into the education system of Bangladesh as soon as possible.
Once again, I was left amazed by the energy and enthusiasm on display, as representatives from every possible level of education -- primary, secondary, tertiary, vocational, madrasa, and even medical -- embraced the power of collaboration and collective thinking to imagine this masterplan. What seemed like an impossibility a few months ago is fast transforming into reality, and we are very close to finalizing this plan.
However, the question remains: What is it that continues to hold us back?
Right off the bat, it is the question of faith. It is the restrictive thinking that has become our norm -- the “poverty mindset.” We cannot think beyond a certain level. Years of meekness and poverty perhaps have reduced Bangladeshi thoughts to just that -- meek and poor.
What we need, instead, are audacious thoughts. And audacious leaders. And ultimately, an audacious population filled with audacious thoughts and audacious actions.
We are not a poor country any longer. We are helping other people and nations in times of their need such as we have done with the Rohingya population, and with Sri Lanka, Nepal, and others. Yet, why is it that we continue to think that we don’t deserve first-world amenities? Of course, that comes with first-world responsibilities like nation-building.
We will be a high-income nation by 2041. Will we still harbour the poverty mindset? In fact, we need to shed it long before getting to the 2041 target. Otherwise, we won’t get there.
One such audacious thought that reverberated during the BEFA workshop is empowering the students to believe that they are the solution to society’s problems.
If every student in Bangladesh is taught to embody the mantra, “I am the solution,” which is the heart of BEFA, then the worrying trend in our education system today -- of encouraging our students to ignore society’s problems or blaming somebody else for them -- will disappear.
The second audacious thought that circled around the room is ensuring that we produce global citizens in our students.
2041 is not too far away. Borders will matter even less than they do now. Everything is increasingly cross-border. Trade is a given. Education, with the advent of online platforms, has become more so. Tele-medicine and medical tourism continue to gain momentum.
In the midst of these seismic changes -- and I’ve not even touched upon the effects of the Fourth Industrial Revolution -- Bangladesh can no longer afford to think about its students of today becoming model Bangladeshi citizens of tomorrow and contributing to Bangladesh society alone. This is once again a perfect example of our poverty mindset.
Instead, we need our students of today to become model global citizens of tomorrow, contributing certainly to nation-building, but also to world-building; and perhaps, within the lifetime of our children if not our own lifetime, to universe-building.
The greatest opportunity presented to future generations is that the whole world is open to them. The greatest challenge presented to future generations, however, is that the whole world is open to them.
It is now up to us to imbue our current and future students with faith, teach them to be audacious by ridding themselves of the poverty mindset, and prepare them to compete with the entire world as global citizens. It is they, more than anyone else, who will lead us to Innovative Bangladesh.
Lao Tzu said, “Watch your thoughts, they become your words; watch your words, they become your actions; watch your actions, they become your habits; watch your habits, they become your character; watch your character, it becomes your destiny.”
What is going to be our destiny?
Anir Chowdhury is a US tech entrepreneur turned Bangladeshi government entrepreneur serving as the Policy Advisor of a2i in ICT Division and Cabinet Division supported by UNDP.