The10th ‘Seeds for the Future’ program in Bangladesh Inaugurated
The ICT State Minister Zunaid Ahmed Palak inaugurated this year’s ‘Seeds for the Future’ program for Bangladesh at the Huawei Bangladesh Academy in Gulshan, capital, on Wednesday night (June 21). The Chinese Ambassador to Bangladesh Yao Wen, Huawei South Asia Region President and Huawei Bangladesh CEO Pan Junfeng, Huawei Asia Pacific Public Affairs and Communications President Zhang Zhengjun, Huawei Asia Pacific Enterprise Business Group President Nicholas Ma and Islamic University of Technology Vice Chancellor Dr. Mohammad Rafiqul Islam were present.
And through this, the registration process for those interested in the 10th ‘Seeds for the Future’ program is open to participate in the program.
In this future-oriented program organized by Huawei South Asia, the first three winners from the Bangladesh phase will receive Huawei laptops, Huawei Tabs and Huawei watches as prizes, and the top 6 winners will receive training at the Huawei headquarters in China.
While speaking as the chief guest at the opening ceremony, the State Minister for Information and Communication Technology Zunaid Ahmed Palak expressed his gratitude to the board of directors of Huawei Bangladesh for fulfilling its social responsibility in creating future-oriented human resources following the ideals of Bangabandhu.
He said, “I thank Huawei for the successful completion of the 3rd phase of Info Gov.” With their cooperation, we are able to provide affordable, quality and sustainable broadband internet services to the suburbs. Now through the Establishing Digital Connectivity Project, within the next six months we will be able to connect 11,000 primary, 35,000 secondary and higher secondary, 18,000 community health centers, 1,009 government offices including 4,000 land to high-speed broadband internet.
In this way, by creating an inclusive smart society and ensuring equal rights for all, the state minister said that the government will achieve all the goals, and in this case, technology will be the vehicle and the basic driving force where our students of today will lead.
Palak also said that developed countries and continents like Europe-America are facing shortage of human resources. When I first visited China, I saw that the Chinese government had adopted a one-child policy. Then when I went to their parliament there was a question and answer session every Wednesday. Any MP could question the Prime Minister there. I learned a lot from visiting four provinces for two weeks. After returning from there, I asked the Prime Minister that China has adopted the one child policy. Why aren’t we doing that? I am the father of one child. Now I have three children. Then the prime minister said that he did not like the one child per answer. Because she sees our youth as an asset. She made the students and youth the assets of the country by developing them. The fact that Bangabandhu realized five decades ago and his daughter realized 14 years ago, now the Chinese government has realized that and have withdrawn from the one children policy.
He also said that according to the guidance of ICT advisor Sajeeb Wazed Joy in the last 14 years, now 4 million people are garment workers in the country, about 10 million people are sending billions of dollars in remittances from outside the country. About 4 crore farmers are feeding 17 crore people. Our economy is now heavily dependent on young manpower.
The state minister also said that technology is the main driving force in achieving the goal of Smart Bangladesh and our current students will play a leading role in this regard. The Seeds for the Future program will enable them to learn about and use of cutting-edge technology. They will visit Huawei’s state-of-the-art infrastructure and have the opportunity to meet global mentors and experts. Our main responsibility under the ICT Division is to bridge the gap between industry and academia. In this regard, I am grateful to Huawei for supporting us through various initiatives such as the establishment of ICT Academy.
Yao Wen, China’s ambassador to Bangladesh, said, “Seeds are a symbol of hope and yield. The seeds of cooperation will bring development fruits, contribute to the development of talent in the field of ICT, and contribute to the welfare of the people of China and Bangladesh. China is ready to sow seeds of knowledge with Bangladesh to face the future. Under the leadership of Honorable Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh has achieved the Digital Bangladesh goal and is moving towards Smart Bangladesh. Such initiative of Huawei will play a significant role in achieving this goal. I wish the Seeds for the Future program every success.”
Zhang Zhengjun, President of Public Affairs and Communications, Huawei Asia Pacific said, “The ‘Seeds for the Future’ program has been helping the youth of this country in many ways. Bangladesh is enjoying the benefits of demographic dividend. In this regard, it is important for Bangladesh to harness the potential of the youth. Huawei has been working closely with the Government of Bangladesh for a long time as a partner in realizing the potential of the youth.”
Pan Junfeng, President of Huawei South Asia Region and CEO of Huawei Bangladesh said, “Huawei has been working as a trusted partner of the ICT sector in Bangladesh for the past 25 years. We believe in improving the quality of life of people in the countries where we operate. In continuation of our belief and efforts, Huawei is organizing various programs to create various opportunities and platforms to expand the knowledge and range of ideas of the youth. ‘Seeds for the Future’ is one such program where participants can learn and learn about industry best practices directly from experts; At the same time, you will get a chance to test your skills.”
Vice-Chancellor of Islamic University of Technology Dr. Mohammad Rafiqul Islam said, “Youth are the future of the country. Now the growth of the country will depend on how we can make them more efficient to meet the challenges of the fourth industrial revolution. Huawei has planned a very nice and effective ‘Seeds for the Future’ program, through which young students will benefit. It is my hope that this year’s program will be even more successful in enriching the experience of all participants.”
It was informed on the occasion that undergraduate students can apply to participate in this program. Students must be in their third year or above and have a CGPA above 3.3. To register for this program they need to send a cover letter or application form stating why they want to participate in the program. Also, the application should reflect their interest in learning as a whole. And they should send their CV along with the application form to [email protected] .
A three-day boot camp training on business and technology will be conducted with participants selected from the registration process. After boot camp training, participants have to submit and present a project. The top six winners from the Bangladesh phase will be selected by evaluating the application potential and presentation of their projects. Among these winners, the champion will get a Huawei laptop, the first runner-up will get a Huawei tab and the second runner-up will get a Huawei watch. In addition, all winners will have the opportunity to participate in training sessions held at Huawei’s headquarters in China.
‘Seeds for the Future’ started its journey in Bangladesh in 2014. Since then, the program has been instrumental in enhancing the talent of the youth in the field of ICT. So far more than 15 thousand students worldwide have benefited from this program.