It is concerning to learn that the digital divide between urban and rural Bangladesh continues to widen; as per the the ICT Access and Use Survey of the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), a mere 36.5% of people in rural areas used the internet, compared to 71.4% in urban areas in the July-September period of the current fiscal year.
For years now, we have been hearing of Bangladesh becoming a “digital” and indeed even a “smart” nation. However, it is clear to see that, much like many of the promises made in this nation, the reality has fallen far shorter than expectations.
However, there is no alternative to bridging this digital divide if we are to make any significant progress as a nation; technology continues to grow in importance at an exponential rate, with the internet now at a stage where it rivals basic necessities for a person’s well-being.
As such, it is time to heed the experts, who have attributed the growing disparity between rural and urban populations with regard to internet usage to limited infrastructure, low digital literacy, and economic constraints in rural areas.
These limitations come as little surprise, but it is now time to devise the appropriate policies and practices that will help address these issues, and bring internet connection to rural populations, along with all the benefits having the internet provides, from which they have been deprived for far too long.
Large-scale digitization projects are meaningless if it fails to bring equity; if more digitization leads to more divide instead of being the equalizer it is meant to be, then we must rethink our strategy when it comes to digitization. We must always aspire to be a more equitable nation, not one with growing divides, digital or otherwise.
