Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina asserted today that the Bangladesh of 2041 will be a smart Bangladesh where everyone has technological know-how and the country does not lag behind on the world stage.
“Our education and learning, such as e-education, e-health, e-commerce, e-economy, e-government, will be based on technological knowledge,” she said.
Speaking at an event at the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) in Dhaka, the Prime Minister said a nationwide free textbook distribution program was launched to distribute books to primary and secondary school students for the 2023 school year.
National Textbook Day is celebrated across the country on January 1st.
She said the whole country, including all the villages, will have the technological know-how and the government is taking steps for it.
“We have launched the Bangabandhu-I satellite and will launch our second satellite. We will connect different parts of the country through submarine cables. We will provide broadband internet everywhere (in the country),” she said.
Referring to Bangladesh gaining developing country status as it celebrated the centenary of the birth of the founding father Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the fiftieth anniversary of the country’s independence, Sheikh Hasina said, “No one can belittle Bangladesh now. “
“Bangladesh has taken its place in the world now. Bangladesh in 2041 will be a developed and prosperous gold country, which is also a smart country,” she said.
She added: “From now on, if we raise our children with sincerity, no one can stop our progress.”
Sheikh Hasina said that to create a “Smart Bangladesh” by 2041, children will be provided with all the facilities and will be the driving force to achieve this goal.
“We will prepare our children in such a way that they will be ready for the technology-driven days of the future and will prepare them to be the skilled workforce of the forthcoming Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR),” she said.
She called for special attention to unleashing hidden talents in children by nurturing their curiosity.
“Focus on we have to build them into national citizens fit for Smart Bangladesh by 2041,” she said.
The prime minister said the Government’s primary objective was to develop a skilled and skilled manpower by providing technical and vocational education.
“All our people will be technologically smart and they will not be left behind by the whole world,” she said.
The prime minister said there was no compromise on printing textbooks for children despite government austerity on many matters to save public money due to the coronavirus and the Ukraine-Russia war.
“…we didn’t forget about the children, we didn’t compromise on printing their books, yes, we saved money from other things (austerity imposed), but we paid special attention to printing their (children) Books (textbooks),” she said.
Prices of all goods have risen due to the coronavirus and Ukraine’s war with Russia, leading to government austerity in many areas of public spending, but not in the printing of children’s and children’s textbooks, she said. Hand out these on the first day of the new year.
To do this, she said, the government overcame all obstacles, including the coronavirus, the Ukraine-Russia war and rising prices of everything.
She mentioned that if the children of the country can be built with sincerity, then no force in the world can stop the development and progress of the country.
The Minister of Education, Dr. Dipu Moni, was the chairperson, and the Deputy Minister of Education, Mohibul Hassan Chowdhury MP, delivered a welcome address at the ceremony.
Md Zakir Hossen MP, Minister of State for Primary and Mass Education, was the guest speaker.
According to the National Curriculum and Textbook Council (NCTB), as many as 330,910,120,000 and 300 types of textbooks are expected to be distributed in primary and secondary schools across the country.
The government has printed these textbooks by maintaining proper standards for students at Pre-School, Primary, Secondary, Ebtedayee and SSC levels and all students will get the textbooks for free on the first day of New Year (2013).
The Primary School Textbook Festival will be held intensively at the Central Playground of Dhaka University (DU), while the Secondary School Textbook Festival will be held at the grounds of Kapasia Pilot High School in Gazipur.
The current government started distributing textbooks for free in 2010, and a total of 4344580211 textbooks have been distributed so far.