I would like to see a simple technology to integrate iPhone to TV. As always, Apple is the leader of the products that “wow” the customer by providing the “user experience”. Obviously we want more now and our expectations are thereby going up.
I would like to see a TV with blue tooth and additional software capability in iPhone to list schedule and program my TV so that I could watch my clips from YouTube. Now a day you can watch latest news clips, hit TV shows from any virtually country in the world (DirectTV or Dish ro Cable does not have them all).
I know the resolution of YouTube clips are very low 300 pixels or so. I think that should not dictate the interacting capability. Once we have the higher bandwidths to support the higher resolution then we will make that transition. But now I would like to have this ease of use and “wow” factor between my TV and iPhone. I will make a list in my iPhone, select the order of play and send it to my TV. I may login to YouTube and prepare the list and schedule the time and order of play. Then when I am in front of my TV, I turn my iPhone as a remote control of my TV, voala, I watch my shows.
Apple, Samsung, Google wake up.
Happy New Year 2008!
Monday, December 31, 2007
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Information Communication Technology related Project Ideas and paths to Startup
There has been a lot of talk and enthusiasm going on in Bangladesh now a day with respect to Equity Entrepreneurs Fund aka EEF to establish IT industries in Bangladesh.
I tried to come up with some ICT project ideas which I would like to share with you. These ideas may not directly fall in the EEF category; however if any of my expatriate friend want o go back to Bangladesh to start a new venture or my old pals in Dhaka would like to start something different, they may like this list. This is not at all a complete list. I will try to add to it every now and then.
- Security monitoring and first response initiation over the internet.
- Online Math and Science Tutoring for High school students in US.
- Online trucking/goods shipping reservation facility for nationwide faster goods movement.
- Micro-credit for laptop purchases for every University admitted student in Bangladesh.
- RMG intranet for capacity and recourses sharing for maximizing throughput.
- Online auction of excess or minor rejected RMG products. (Govt. need liberalization)
- Consumer Pricing Interactive Information broadcasting system.
- Intranet for Universities and dedicated network for all students.
Consumer Pricing Interactive Information broadcasting system: The ultimate goal of this project is to have self sustaining free market price stability for consumer goods. This system will share instantaneous market valuation of major consumer good in major shopping zone throughout the country and thereby adjust the price fluctuation or price hike. In a very high level, the system will be integrated in the following architecture.
Each vendor will have a secure ID and product code. At any point of time during the business hour, the vendor will enter his asking price of a specific item. That information will store in a server and broadcasted to multiple billboards throughout the country to major market place like Sowary Ghat, Moluvi Bazzar, Chalk Bazzar, Kawran Bazzar, Gabtoli and likes. Now the vendor’s security ID may be his personal cell phone. Once he called to that specific server and entered his product code, the program will pick up the bid and broadcast it to the billboard as a cron job. Now if you paid careful attention you already figure out that any customer will be able to access that bid through their cell phone from that server. The transaction will happen as usual with the vendor and customer in the respected business site or over cell phone. You have the luxury to scale the system based on your investment or availability of funding. How you make money out of this? That is a trade secret. Be innovative or hire innovator.
Security monitoring and first response initiation over the internet: The availability of submarine cable enable us to video monitoring in real-time. Bangladesh can utilize the cheap labor to compete this field with countries around the world. Let us consider a case study. A specific business area/entity in Santa Clara, California USA, needs to monitor 24/7. There are 100 security cameras in the facilities. In the security control room there are 12 monitor screens each displaying 9 cameras per screen. Assume there are 2 security officers in the security control room, each responsible for 6 monitors. There are two security patrols in the field. If any suspicious activity takes place, then security officers in the control room dispatch massages to the patrolling guards.
In this case study, you can relocate the entire security control room Khulna, Bangladesh.
You may train and setup security monitoring cells. They will watch the facilities 24/7 and in any suspicious activity they will dispatch to the security patrols for immediate action. You can do it profitably in less than 25% of that operating cost of Santa Clara, California.
Once you have one customer happy and satisfied, you will get 20 more customers to be a mega security center and may further reduce the cost and enlighten your customer. In addition, companies that could not afford security center will be able to do it as the cost is down. Hence the market will get bigger.
I will continue to add more details on the remaining projects.
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Blue Card and Talents
Last week in a Washington Post Column, Intel Chairman Craig Barrett emphasize the need to streamline the H1-B visa processing and compared it with European Union’s recent endorsement of Blue Card. The Blue Card is designed to attract highly educated workers to work in EU. The link to the full column is: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/21/AR2007122101919.html
Through out the world we all should encourage the talented engineers, scientists and innovators and remove any obstacle whatsoever from their path.
The flows of talents are in couple of directions. One between developed countries in the western world, such as EU, USA and increasingly Singapore, Hong Kong, Dubai etc. The other category is the flow of talents from developing world to the developed one. Some may argue that it may cause brain drain and those country continue to remain under develop; however opponent would argue that the flow of talent in long term benefit the originating country by creating a bridge between them and open future opportunities. On top of that, in the economic development, these talented individual may contribute to the originating country bringing the gained expertise and win-win business deals among the two nations.
I would like to encourage the thriving talented students in science and engineering as well as economics and public policy to sharpen their competence. There is more reason to bring new innovative ideas and develop new methods or tools to take this world to a better place. Please continue to do what you do best and that is your studies, experiments and research.
Through out the world we all should encourage the talented engineers, scientists and innovators and remove any obstacle whatsoever from their path.
The flows of talents are in couple of directions. One between developed countries in the western world, such as EU, USA and increasingly Singapore, Hong Kong, Dubai etc. The other category is the flow of talents from developing world to the developed one. Some may argue that it may cause brain drain and those country continue to remain under develop; however opponent would argue that the flow of talent in long term benefit the originating country by creating a bridge between them and open future opportunities. On top of that, in the economic development, these talented individual may contribute to the originating country bringing the gained expertise and win-win business deals among the two nations.
I would like to encourage the thriving talented students in science and engineering as well as economics and public policy to sharpen their competence. There is more reason to bring new innovative ideas and develop new methods or tools to take this world to a better place. Please continue to do what you do best and that is your studies, experiments and research.
Friday, December 28, 2007
NBR conference 2007 and Nursing jobs
In the NBR conference 2007 the President of US-Bangladedh Advisory Council Sabbir Ahmed said, "At present there are 400,000 vacant posts for nurses in the US, and Bangladesh can export skilled human resources against those posts". I could not agree more. I believe that management and entrepreneurs in that sector should pay a serious attention to this matter.
US-Bangladesh Advisory Council President's comment remind me to one of my essay I wrote during 2003. I remember I had to be very cautious and sensitive about the topic. Hence the introduction was very lengthy (1st 3 paragraphs) or may be boring to the context of a short history of migration and some historical imperatives. Here is a complete copy of that essay:
Author: Abu Abdullah
Date: 01/11/03
Nursing: an opportunity overseas
Nursing is noble profession. Every country, every civilization there will be always demand for them, unless the world one day in future come up with a technology or innovation which protect human kind from any disease or cut and bruise. The globalization brings the countries of the world closer day by day. For Bangladesh this is an opportunity to participate in the global nursing work force. Let me explain in a bit what I mean by that.
From the early history of mankind, people travel or migrate to other part of the countries for better living, to pursue their dreams, to contribute the continuous development of the world, create arts, music, innovation and solution for growing needs for mankind. In early days conqueror invade countries for fortunes, over the period of time they went back to their homes. Then Europe went to America for land, gold and food. They brought the hard working people from Africa and use them for their own fortune and growth. Then they treat them as subhuman. Next batch of migration from Europe specially Ireland, Italy and others worked on the development of America on roads, freeways, industries, agriculture along with the early migrants. They enjoyed better life and also contribute America. There were a lot of reverse migration as well. In late 20th century and now, people from Asia, specially China and south-east Asia came to America for High Tech jobs. The contributed in development of electronics, microprocessor, internet, networking, communication and anything related to innovation and technology along with the Americans and early immigrants. What puts them in that position are their keen interest for education and dedication on learning. Education was their only hope for better life. They had to make them valuable. For few years the world economy slowed a little bit; but the innovation continues. The next phase would be in Bio-technology, medical science and genetics. The success of humane genome project opens a whole new world of research and innovation. There is room for everybody to participate on that front. Next time I will try to write how we can participate in that movement though we are far away from High Tech.
The biggest resources Bangladesh has for the globalization is its people. We are in better position because with a little effort we can produce a large number of English specking workforces. The toughest challenge for us is to utilize that work force for the betterment of them. They and their families enjoyed better life, brings better life for the country. We have very little opportunity in the scope of our country because of our little economy and little purchase power. But we can develop focus expertise and channel that expertise for globalization. We did that already for middle eastern countries. A few from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, pursue their graduate education in America and contributing in Global High Tech area as well as helping taking care of their families in Bangladesh, creating purchase power and indirectly creating jobs. We need to have more of these models. Until recently I did not thought of Nursing as compare to High Tech jobs. America is hiring foreign English speaking experienced nurses from all over the world, specially now from South Africa.
There is a risk of loosing our existing nurses to serve the country. I am not proposing to export them and have our hospitals and nursing homes helpless. This is why this is a very sensitive and risky venture. We have to plan and execute keeping in mind that we only pursue the win-win projects. One of the guideline may be as follow.
Schools that train nurses could create additional capacities. Students, which are good at English from Universities or colleges, are trained with a commitment of serving 1-2 years at Nursing homes or hospitals. This should not be free. They should get paid for their job. This is a win-win situation for them as well for their experiences. Students who are not good at English may improve their skill and also get the opportunities to participate. Once we have enough nurses, we may give the opportunity for Global jobs.
Jobs in America are high paying (ranging $25K to $50K per year) and very fast, we should not deprive anybody from the competition. The nurses who, has been serving for a long time, if they want to explore the opportunity, they should no get punished. At the same time new nurses should pay their due service to the authority. The point here is that we should only produce enough to first serve our local needs and then for revenue.
For the graduates from Universities or colleges who want to venture themselves, may as well pursue on their own. Use the Internet for research and information. The students from BUET pursued their better life in High Tech on their own; but their advantages ware, they had earned their Bachelor degree from BUET almost free of cost. I may write another article on that.
Not to mention about the profitable business in Dhaka commonly known “Couching” center. They may cash out on this venture. So we have to watch out for that unless they are really competitive. Just for an example, Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in Boston has hired nurses from Philippines. Philippines are a logical choice because their training programs are much like US. The nurses got themselves adapted smoothly and sending their hard cash to their families who still live in Philippines. Look for information on National League of Nursing (http://www.nln.org/) and for Boston opportunity examples visit (www.massnurses.org) or St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center (http://www.semc.org/).
The Job opportunities for Resident Nurses are expected to grow more then 36% through 2010. This field has been rated “grow faster then average” by the US Department of Labor. For more information on that, please visit the US Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics on Internet. I hope to write more on the Nurse Training and Education requirement in my future writings. I would like to give another data; the median annual earnings of RN were $44.840 in 2000. Please keep in mind that a significant part of that salary goes to taxes (about one third) and a third goes to housing or rent.
US-Bangladesh Advisory Council President's comment remind me to one of my essay I wrote during 2003. I remember I had to be very cautious and sensitive about the topic. Hence the introduction was very lengthy (1st 3 paragraphs) or may be boring to the context of a short history of migration and some historical imperatives. Here is a complete copy of that essay:
Author: Abu Abdullah
Date: 01/11/03
Nursing: an opportunity overseas
Nursing is noble profession. Every country, every civilization there will be always demand for them, unless the world one day in future come up with a technology or innovation which protect human kind from any disease or cut and bruise. The globalization brings the countries of the world closer day by day. For Bangladesh this is an opportunity to participate in the global nursing work force. Let me explain in a bit what I mean by that.
From the early history of mankind, people travel or migrate to other part of the countries for better living, to pursue their dreams, to contribute the continuous development of the world, create arts, music, innovation and solution for growing needs for mankind. In early days conqueror invade countries for fortunes, over the period of time they went back to their homes. Then Europe went to America for land, gold and food. They brought the hard working people from Africa and use them for their own fortune and growth. Then they treat them as subhuman. Next batch of migration from Europe specially Ireland, Italy and others worked on the development of America on roads, freeways, industries, agriculture along with the early migrants. They enjoyed better life and also contribute America. There were a lot of reverse migration as well. In late 20th century and now, people from Asia, specially China and south-east Asia came to America for High Tech jobs. The contributed in development of electronics, microprocessor, internet, networking, communication and anything related to innovation and technology along with the Americans and early immigrants. What puts them in that position are their keen interest for education and dedication on learning. Education was their only hope for better life. They had to make them valuable. For few years the world economy slowed a little bit; but the innovation continues. The next phase would be in Bio-technology, medical science and genetics. The success of humane genome project opens a whole new world of research and innovation. There is room for everybody to participate on that front. Next time I will try to write how we can participate in that movement though we are far away from High Tech.
The biggest resources Bangladesh has for the globalization is its people. We are in better position because with a little effort we can produce a large number of English specking workforces. The toughest challenge for us is to utilize that work force for the betterment of them. They and their families enjoyed better life, brings better life for the country. We have very little opportunity in the scope of our country because of our little economy and little purchase power. But we can develop focus expertise and channel that expertise for globalization. We did that already for middle eastern countries. A few from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, pursue their graduate education in America and contributing in Global High Tech area as well as helping taking care of their families in Bangladesh, creating purchase power and indirectly creating jobs. We need to have more of these models. Until recently I did not thought of Nursing as compare to High Tech jobs. America is hiring foreign English speaking experienced nurses from all over the world, specially now from South Africa.
There is a risk of loosing our existing nurses to serve the country. I am not proposing to export them and have our hospitals and nursing homes helpless. This is why this is a very sensitive and risky venture. We have to plan and execute keeping in mind that we only pursue the win-win projects. One of the guideline may be as follow.
Schools that train nurses could create additional capacities. Students, which are good at English from Universities or colleges, are trained with a commitment of serving 1-2 years at Nursing homes or hospitals. This should not be free. They should get paid for their job. This is a win-win situation for them as well for their experiences. Students who are not good at English may improve their skill and also get the opportunities to participate. Once we have enough nurses, we may give the opportunity for Global jobs.
Jobs in America are high paying (ranging $25K to $50K per year) and very fast, we should not deprive anybody from the competition. The nurses who, has been serving for a long time, if they want to explore the opportunity, they should no get punished. At the same time new nurses should pay their due service to the authority. The point here is that we should only produce enough to first serve our local needs and then for revenue.
For the graduates from Universities or colleges who want to venture themselves, may as well pursue on their own. Use the Internet for research and information. The students from BUET pursued their better life in High Tech on their own; but their advantages ware, they had earned their Bachelor degree from BUET almost free of cost. I may write another article on that.
Not to mention about the profitable business in Dhaka commonly known “Couching” center. They may cash out on this venture. So we have to watch out for that unless they are really competitive. Just for an example, Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in Boston has hired nurses from Philippines. Philippines are a logical choice because their training programs are much like US. The nurses got themselves adapted smoothly and sending their hard cash to their families who still live in Philippines. Look for information on National League of Nursing (http://www.nln.org/) and for Boston opportunity examples visit (www.massnurses.org) or St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center (http://www.semc.org/).
The Job opportunities for Resident Nurses are expected to grow more then 36% through 2010. This field has been rated “grow faster then average” by the US Department of Labor. For more information on that, please visit the US Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics on Internet. I hope to write more on the Nurse Training and Education requirement in my future writings. I would like to give another data; the median annual earnings of RN were $44.840 in 2000. Please keep in mind that a significant part of that salary goes to taxes (about one third) and a third goes to housing or rent.
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
ICT Teachers Training
There are approximately 3000 lecturers in all the colleges around the country to teach ICT courses in 11th and 12th grade students. The ICT course is comparatively new member of the higher secondary education curriculum. It is often said that ICT is key for the country to close the gap of digital divide with the rest of the world.
There are 68017 college teachers in Bangladesh according to the directorate of secondary and higher education’s most recent data available to the public in its website. Out of them 58508 (86%) are from private college (non-government). Among them only 4% are ICT.
I am sure there are tens of thousands of students enroll in these highly demanding ICT course and are not being successful to pass satisfactorily. There may be multiple reasons for that failure. However, lack of training for those helpless lecturers is the most intriguing one. I salute them for their courage to enter into the classroom with very little resourses. Not to mention their no access to any up-to-date knowledgebase of ICT teaching material.
These teachers are the key to our success for the future. What they produce are the asset of the nation and its development in the era of information technology. Therefore it is imperative that they teach a quality ICT curriculum. It is our responsibility to educate them and strengthen them with the best of knowledgebase. We should provide them the quality study material. We need to ensure that their understanding of the subject matter is nothing but the best and current.
Microsoft and Intel Corporation have many programs for teachers’ training to teach to the future. These programs are win-win for everybody. Not to mention that more people learn to use computer, more computer will be sold and both Microsoft and Intel Corporation will make money; however a noble cause being get fulfilled for those developing countries who could not provide proper training for those teachers. Students also get benefited as they acquire quality education in their disposal.
These two global companies delivered tens of millions of trained teachers in India, Vietnam, and Brazil.
If you just look at the evolution of microprocessor from last year to this year, this itself justify a training or a “touch point” for the ICT teachers. Because these duel core, core2 duo, multi-core products are coming to the shelves of the computer stores and students are buying those. At least our teachers get that knowledge upgrade to deal with those students. This kind of training could be avoided if our ICT teachers were connected to the information super highway through broadband.
To give a jump start, I have a training proposal. There are several authors of the ICT text books offered their voluntary service. For the rest of the project rough estimation, to train 3000 teachers from all over the country for a week of training in Dhaka could cost around USD$ 50,000, less then USD$ 20 per teacher. Major cell phone operators or ICT companies may tap this opportunities to extend their’s brand’s good will and future market opportunities. Moreover global corporations looking business opportunities may as well get involved.
There are 68017 college teachers in Bangladesh according to the directorate of secondary and higher education’s most recent data available to the public in its website. Out of them 58508 (86%) are from private college (non-government). Among them only 4% are ICT.
I am sure there are tens of thousands of students enroll in these highly demanding ICT course and are not being successful to pass satisfactorily. There may be multiple reasons for that failure. However, lack of training for those helpless lecturers is the most intriguing one. I salute them for their courage to enter into the classroom with very little resourses. Not to mention their no access to any up-to-date knowledgebase of ICT teaching material.
These teachers are the key to our success for the future. What they produce are the asset of the nation and its development in the era of information technology. Therefore it is imperative that they teach a quality ICT curriculum. It is our responsibility to educate them and strengthen them with the best of knowledgebase. We should provide them the quality study material. We need to ensure that their understanding of the subject matter is nothing but the best and current.
Microsoft and Intel Corporation have many programs for teachers’ training to teach to the future. These programs are win-win for everybody. Not to mention that more people learn to use computer, more computer will be sold and both Microsoft and Intel Corporation will make money; however a noble cause being get fulfilled for those developing countries who could not provide proper training for those teachers. Students also get benefited as they acquire quality education in their disposal.
These two global companies delivered tens of millions of trained teachers in India, Vietnam, and Brazil.
If you just look at the evolution of microprocessor from last year to this year, this itself justify a training or a “touch point” for the ICT teachers. Because these duel core, core2 duo, multi-core products are coming to the shelves of the computer stores and students are buying those. At least our teachers get that knowledge upgrade to deal with those students. This kind of training could be avoided if our ICT teachers were connected to the information super highway through broadband.
To give a jump start, I have a training proposal. There are several authors of the ICT text books offered their voluntary service. For the rest of the project rough estimation, to train 3000 teachers from all over the country for a week of training in Dhaka could cost around USD$ 50,000, less then USD$ 20 per teacher. Major cell phone operators or ICT companies may tap this opportunities to extend their’s brand’s good will and future market opportunities. Moreover global corporations looking business opportunities may as well get involved.
Monday, December 17, 2007
Brac or Grameen provide microcredit for Laptop
For every 100 university going students in the West Pakistan, Bangladesh (East Pakistan) had 247 university going students during the years of 1951-52. The West paid much more attention to their education and almost flipped the number within 14 years. During 1963-64, in the East we had only 9,984 students enrolled in Universities where as many as 14,425 students in the West Pakistan, which is 144 for each 100 from the East. In my personal opinion this institutional discrimination is more then enough reason for a separate independent Bangladesh. We are proud that we have Bangladesh.
Winter morning in Portland, I was enjoying “Collected works of Rehman Sobhah” published by Center for Policy Dialogue. I was intrigued by his article on Economic basis of Bangali Nation where he put a table of Pakistan Economic survey. I was 2 years old when people of Bangladesh said “Enough” and started claiming their self-governance and independence in a painstakingly hard way.
For every student in the East who experienced that his academic potential has been shunned due to the unequal treatment of the West to provide equal growth in the East, freedom fighting was like Jihad to him. We thank them from the bottom of our hearts today in the month of December. Today in Bangladesh we have as many as 50,000 students, enrolling each year in the Universities around the country. Thank you 1971.
We still have a long way to go for our higher education, both quality and capacity wise. According to BANBEIS data for 2001-2005, Bangladesh had a tremendous growth in private Universities. The number of such universities grew from 22 to 53 during that 5 year period almost 240% growth; however number of teachers serving those institutions grew from 2205 to 3487 to 154% in those 5 years. You can see, there is some disproportional relationship which may cause some quality issue. And after the inspection of University grant commission and other oversight committees’ survey, we all know now about the quality of education of these private Universities except few.
On the other hand after the inception of our beloved Bangladesh, the growth of the Public University is stunningly poor and almost flat. This is unacceptable. Our generation should at least setup one University in each district with equal infrastructure, staff, recourses and quality of education by now. Let us plan on doing that by the year 2021 at the half century of our nation. In today’s world higher education become more important then ever. In the advent of technological revolution on information technology and computing automation, Bangladesh has more reason to educate its massive population to transform them from liability to resources. We do not have natural resources; our people are our resources. In my opinion there is no alternative of easily accessible Broadband in order for a rapid mass level education.
I believe, it is high time for this generation to pay a close attention to the delivery methods and quality of education in Bangladesh. First and foremost our educators at the Universities have to acknowledge the true reality. Our Universities do not have any respectable position in any of the ranking done by any respected ranking authority around the world. We are no longer the Oxford of the East which once we claimed. However, we can turn it around, we just need to set our priorities and act on it.
If every student in both public and private Universities has easy access to internet, then they can browse the portal of any Universities around the world. They can get their syllabus, course material and could compare where they stand. This will put our educators in a challenging environment. Student will get exposed to the real world and demand no less. This will trigger hard work and competitive stings for a better outcome. There is one regulatory obstacle here, which is standing between students and information superhighway. We need an easily accessible if not free broadband available for every student.
There are 74 universities in Bangladesh. Out of these, 21 universities are in the public sector, while the other 53 are in the private sector. Out of 21 public sector universities, 19 universities provide regular classroom instruction facilities and services. Each of them may take initiatives to get grant and design their intranet as well as the gateway to internet. BTTB may just drop the extension of submarine cable and fiber to the nearest node. Again, government may impose a mandatory 5% revenue contribution from the entire telecom provider operating in Bangladesh including BTTB to fund such a connectivity project.No University will benefit from the online capability more than the National University of Bangladesh. The National University caters the general education at graduate and post-graduate level in colleges/institutions which were affiliated to different public universities since independence. About one million students are studying in more than 1600 colleges/institutions affiliated to this university. The National University is expanding in terms of number of students, courses and institutions day by day. To day this university plays the most significant role to provide opportunities for higher education among the students living especially in rural and semi-urban areas. A dedicated connectivity and access to the internet with a computer in students possession may do more then the education. The student will have the vision.How do we find the funding? I already discussed 5% telecom revenue for the connectivity solution. Let’s say, we need USD$ 40 million for 200,000 laptops (University Grant commission or ministry of education can strike a deal with ASUS Taipei or Lenovo China) which will ensure a piece for every university enrolled student of Bangladesh. June 2007, Intel and ASUS partnered to bring a US$199 laptop called “Eee PC” an inexpensive laptop designed to help spread computing to poorer regions. The hardware funding may come from various foundations and NGOs. Universities need to research for that. Again you need a dedicated internet access to even to search the funding. It is feels like the chicken and egg problem. There is a lot of funding available to close the digital divide.
BRAC or Grameen could take a lead on working out a micro credit loan with Universities for the funding of these PCs. Moreover, University governing body can work with various bank and financial agencies for a package of installment payable by each student in absence of funding from non profit organizations. A student may pay as low as 500 Taka per month for a laptop during his full length of study. I am sure, these creative students will innovate a lot of usages of these toys at their disposal for generating lot more then 500 Taka to pay for it. For this scheme we do not need any grant, we can work out with a bank for this venture.
There may be hundreds of other ways to improve quality of education; however my prescription to jump starts is the following equation:
The quality of higher education = land students to information superhighway + guidance of their professors.
Let us not under estimate our students, let them expose to the reality and truth. I am sure they will aim for higher standard. This will make our founding fathers happy in haven.
We are proud that we have Bangladesh – let’s take it to the next level. –Abu Abdullah
sohel1569@yahoo.com
Winter morning in Portland, I was enjoying “Collected works of Rehman Sobhah” published by Center for Policy Dialogue. I was intrigued by his article on Economic basis of Bangali Nation where he put a table of Pakistan Economic survey. I was 2 years old when people of Bangladesh said “Enough” and started claiming their self-governance and independence in a painstakingly hard way.
For every student in the East who experienced that his academic potential has been shunned due to the unequal treatment of the West to provide equal growth in the East, freedom fighting was like Jihad to him. We thank them from the bottom of our hearts today in the month of December. Today in Bangladesh we have as many as 50,000 students, enrolling each year in the Universities around the country. Thank you 1971.
We still have a long way to go for our higher education, both quality and capacity wise. According to BANBEIS data for 2001-2005, Bangladesh had a tremendous growth in private Universities. The number of such universities grew from 22 to 53 during that 5 year period almost 240% growth; however number of teachers serving those institutions grew from 2205 to 3487 to 154% in those 5 years. You can see, there is some disproportional relationship which may cause some quality issue. And after the inspection of University grant commission and other oversight committees’ survey, we all know now about the quality of education of these private Universities except few.
On the other hand after the inception of our beloved Bangladesh, the growth of the Public University is stunningly poor and almost flat. This is unacceptable. Our generation should at least setup one University in each district with equal infrastructure, staff, recourses and quality of education by now. Let us plan on doing that by the year 2021 at the half century of our nation. In today’s world higher education become more important then ever. In the advent of technological revolution on information technology and computing automation, Bangladesh has more reason to educate its massive population to transform them from liability to resources. We do not have natural resources; our people are our resources. In my opinion there is no alternative of easily accessible Broadband in order for a rapid mass level education.
I believe, it is high time for this generation to pay a close attention to the delivery methods and quality of education in Bangladesh. First and foremost our educators at the Universities have to acknowledge the true reality. Our Universities do not have any respectable position in any of the ranking done by any respected ranking authority around the world. We are no longer the Oxford of the East which once we claimed. However, we can turn it around, we just need to set our priorities and act on it.
If every student in both public and private Universities has easy access to internet, then they can browse the portal of any Universities around the world. They can get their syllabus, course material and could compare where they stand. This will put our educators in a challenging environment. Student will get exposed to the real world and demand no less. This will trigger hard work and competitive stings for a better outcome. There is one regulatory obstacle here, which is standing between students and information superhighway. We need an easily accessible if not free broadband available for every student.
There are 74 universities in Bangladesh. Out of these, 21 universities are in the public sector, while the other 53 are in the private sector. Out of 21 public sector universities, 19 universities provide regular classroom instruction facilities and services. Each of them may take initiatives to get grant and design their intranet as well as the gateway to internet. BTTB may just drop the extension of submarine cable and fiber to the nearest node. Again, government may impose a mandatory 5% revenue contribution from the entire telecom provider operating in Bangladesh including BTTB to fund such a connectivity project.No University will benefit from the online capability more than the National University of Bangladesh. The National University caters the general education at graduate and post-graduate level in colleges/institutions which were affiliated to different public universities since independence. About one million students are studying in more than 1600 colleges/institutions affiliated to this university. The National University is expanding in terms of number of students, courses and institutions day by day. To day this university plays the most significant role to provide opportunities for higher education among the students living especially in rural and semi-urban areas. A dedicated connectivity and access to the internet with a computer in students possession may do more then the education. The student will have the vision.How do we find the funding? I already discussed 5% telecom revenue for the connectivity solution. Let’s say, we need USD$ 40 million for 200,000 laptops (University Grant commission or ministry of education can strike a deal with ASUS Taipei or Lenovo China) which will ensure a piece for every university enrolled student of Bangladesh. June 2007, Intel and ASUS partnered to bring a US$199 laptop called “Eee PC” an inexpensive laptop designed to help spread computing to poorer regions. The hardware funding may come from various foundations and NGOs. Universities need to research for that. Again you need a dedicated internet access to even to search the funding. It is feels like the chicken and egg problem. There is a lot of funding available to close the digital divide.
BRAC or Grameen could take a lead on working out a micro credit loan with Universities for the funding of these PCs. Moreover, University governing body can work with various bank and financial agencies for a package of installment payable by each student in absence of funding from non profit organizations. A student may pay as low as 500 Taka per month for a laptop during his full length of study. I am sure, these creative students will innovate a lot of usages of these toys at their disposal for generating lot more then 500 Taka to pay for it. For this scheme we do not need any grant, we can work out with a bank for this venture.
There may be hundreds of other ways to improve quality of education; however my prescription to jump starts is the following equation:
The quality of higher education = land students to information superhighway + guidance of their professors.
Let us not under estimate our students, let them expose to the reality and truth. I am sure they will aim for higher standard. This will make our founding fathers happy in haven.
We are proud that we have Bangladesh – let’s take it to the next level. –Abu Abdullah
sohel1569@yahoo.com
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