The world is advancing from the first industrial revolution to the fourth industrial revolution. The next 10 years may see the fifth industrial revolution. So our youth need to be prepared to lead to establishing Bangladesh as a knowledge-based society in the world in this global change.
The state minister, Zunaid Ahmed Palak made this remark at a virtual program titled ‘GP Explorers 2.0’ organized by Grameenphone on Wednesday while GP CEO Yasir Azman was present at the launching event.
Bangladesh has now gone from a low-income country to a middle-income developing country. The targets set by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to achieve the status of a developed economy cannot be achieved only with a labor-intensive economy and conventional jobs. This requires trade diversification, it requires a change in the education system.
He said, ‘change is the law of nature. The world is changing from creation to destruction, change will continue to happen. From the first industrial revolution to the second industrial revolution, from the second industrial revolution to the third industrial revolution, from the third industrial revolution to now the fourth industrial revolution, in the next 10 years maybe we will move towards the fifth industrial revolution. Will young people adapt to this change, or will they lead this change? ‘
“If we adopt, we will be able to survive with this change.” And if we, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s target of a developed Bangladesh by 2041, per capita income of 12,500, establish Bangladesh as a knowledge-based society in the world, then we must not just adapt to that change, we must prepare our youth to lead that change”, Added the state minister.
In his speech, the state minister called for giving utmost importance to Bengali and English as well, like computer language coding and programming education.
When Junaid Ahmed Palak called on Grameenphone to make educational content open to all, Grameenphone CEO Yasir Ajman expressed solidarity with him.
In their attempt to safeguard the coming decades’ foundation for the nation and to ensure the possibility of competitive growth of skills and expertise among the future leaders, Grameenphone has recently launched ‘Grameenphone Explorers 2.0’, the second batch of its very own youth-development initiative. The program officially began with an engaging orientation session held on April 1, where more than 340 promising students from across the country had joined and expressed their enthusiasm.
GP Explorers is an innovative upskilling initiative from Grameenphone targeted to unleash the youth’s potential and transform their mindset towards skills of the future. The 12-week-long youth upskilling program is a leading telecommunication organization’s responsible business practices towards the country and crafting its prospects. This year, GP Explorers 2.0 is set to feature a wide range of virtual and real-time engagements between the participants and mentors, primarily focusing on building their communication proficiency, entrepreneurship skills, and digital skills.
Over 1400 students from 67 renowned educational institutions had initially applied to be a part of GP Explorers, from where only 357 were chosen to be eligible for the campaign. As the training rolls on, the aim is to develop all the students’ communication proficiency, entrepreneurship skills, and digital marketing skills, besides grooming their personalities to face the immensely competitive local and global job markets. 70% of the learnings is designed to take place online with interactive digital tools, besides 30% live classes involving collaborative activities. GP Explorers 2.0 will also hold regular counselling and experience sharing sessions for the aspiring youth’s deep cognitive support.
Yasir Azman, CEO of Grameenphone, said, “As we proceed towards the 4th industrial revolution, we have to extract the best of our advantage – our demographic dividend. The first season of GP Explorers has seen significant impact from the three-month program; the-then trainees are now confidently getting into corporate ecosystems. We are optimistic about seeking out more of such future leaders, this time with GP Explorers 2.0, who will contribute and help Bangladesh become a self-sustaining high-income country soon.
Solaiman Alam, Chief Digital and Strategy Officer, Grameenphone, Saad Jashim, Head of Human Resources, British American Tobacco Bangladesh, Syed Tanvir Husain, Chief Human Resources Officer, Grameenphone, Lamiya Bushra, Unit Chief, Human Resources, Mutual Trust Bank were also present at the event as HR Professionals. Conducted by Khairul Basher, Head of Communications of GP, a presentation was made by Farhana Islam on GP Explorer Concept and framework, and Alumni from Batch 1 Afrin Aftab & Mahmud Sakib were present to share their experience.