Calling on the students to acquire digital skills, Telecommunications Minister Mostafa Jabbar said, “The future of Bangladesh depends on your talent. I will make a request to you. Whether you study arts, science, commerce, medicine or engineering, there is no choice. Only one condition you fulfill. That’s it: everyone acquires digital skills. Digital skills are what you need to be able to use a digital device.”
The minister was speaking at Dhaka University on Thursday (December 2) as the chief guest at a discussion session on the second day of the centenary celebrations of Dhaka University.
Explaining the digital skills, the Minister said, “No matter what you say, using the internet is also a digital skill. You will acquire this skill. But do not abuse. This is an opportunity for you. You will definitely use it. But you don’t have to be a programmer to do this; You don’t have to be an expert. But you have to use this skill to do whatever you can in the future.”
Mostafa Jabbar further said, we are in the fourth industrial revolution. I am talking about the digital industrial revolution.
You know Bangladesh started its journey as an agro-based country. Bangabandhu sowed the seeds of digital transformation in that poor, weak country. Twenty-one years after the brutal assassination of our honorable Prime Minister Bangabandhu and his family, his daughter made this country a partner of the Third Industrial Revolution and transformed the seed planted by Bangabandhu for Digital Bangladesh into a sapling. He then announced Digital Bangladesh on December 12, 2008. In the last 12 years, which has become clearly evident to the world. You have seen its full form during this corona pandemic. He said that digital Bangladesh is clearly not limited to the fourth industrial revolution. We will build Bangabandhu’s advanced, prosperous, exploitation-free Golden Bangla.
On the second day of the festival, former Executive Director of Ain O Shalish Kendro and former advisor to the caretaker government Advocate Sultana Kamal; Honorary Professor of the Department of International Business, Dhaka University Dr. Khandaker Bazlul Haque; Jagannath University Vice-Chancellor Prof. Md. Imdadul Haque and eminent playwright Nasir Uddin Yusuf Bachchu spoke on the occasion. The former vice chancellor of Dhaka University Professor Emeritus Dr. AK Azad Chowdhury presided over the events on the second day.
Advocate Sultana Kamal said, “When I set foot on this university campus, I was determined to build myself as a world citizen. “Our predecessors achieved independence through the war of liberation,” she added. “We are the heirs of that liberation war. The inheritor of that struggle and tradition. So, let us behave like the rightful heirs. A good heir enriches his inheritance. He does not save his own interest by capitalizing on the inherited inheritance.”
AK Azad Chowdhury said that during early age of the university, instead of working from nine to five, the lights of Curzon Hall did not turn off most of the time at night. Students, teachers and staff were all in a culture of creativity. Yet other departments, including Curzon Hall, were relentlessly engaged in the pursuit of knowledge or the pursuit of creation. Even then, it is sometimes said that they are having a hard time to retain the leadership position that Dhaka University has given to the nation. I am hopeful that the centenary celebrations that started yesterday will mark a milestone for the revival of Dhaka University.
My only hope for the university is that in the next century we can give the nation a more vibrant, more creative, human value rich society. We will work towards that goal.
“It doesn’t matter how many universities are there in a country,” he said. “What matters is how many universities are in the global position. Now is the right time to take the university to a global position in research. And for this the government has to take initiative.” Addressing the students, the professor said that students should remember that every movement has a rationale.
Later, cultural programs were staged to mark the celebration.