The government has taken initiative to connect every educational institution of the country to the internet. The Information and Communication Technology Department of the government is implementing one info government project after another to make uninterrupted internet connection accessible in the villages. The ‘Connected Bangladesh’ project is being implemented to provide high speed internet in 617 unions of remote areas like Sandwip including Bandarban, Khagrachhari and Rangamati in hilly areas of the country. While the Bangladesh Computer Council (BCC) of the ICT Department is taking things forward; At that time, the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education has created a new controversy by ordering the internet connection in 41 thousand government primary schools by tying them with ‘data limit’ of a mobile operator. According to the work order, Initially, Grameenphone will provide internet connection through WiFi system to 39,701 government primary schools in 61 districts, including 1000 primary schools in 3 hill districts. For this, the operator will use WiFi system and SIM in the district primary education office.
Netizens are expressing anger and sheer astonishment over such a move by the Department of Education. Expressing regret over the issue on social media platforms, Internet service provider Infolink CEO Sakif Ahmed wrote, “Where there is an opportunity to hire a local company; With 41,000 connections, an estimated 41 small internet companies could operate, so what could be the reason for giving a foreign company the opportunity to take money with a job that is not covered? Is it the job of a mobile company to provide WiFi internet?”
The question is how to meet the needs of a school teacher-student for a whole month with 20 Mbps data of 5 Mbps speed. Basically, if the primary school does not provide internet for the students even, still then, to connect at least 10 classrooms to the internet, 2 GB of data will be available for each classroom. If you have to play an online video in the classroom, this data will not go away even for a single day. Moreover, where the standard of mobile internet is set at 20 Mbps, on what basis or in whose interest the Ministry of Primary Education made 5 Mbps is a mystery to the leaders of the digital transformation of the government itself.
Asked about this, Posts and Telecommunications Minister Mostafa Jabbar told Digibangla that providing internet service through mobile network is not technically the right decision in any way. Where I can get broadband, I don’t know why we use mobile internet. That momentum is very important in education. What good is a web site if it simply “blends in” with everything else out there? It seems to me that mobile is not a permanent system for us. The rationale for providing this service through high-speed broadband was reasonable. However, the ISPs were not given a chance to participate in this tender. It shouldn’t have happened at all. It is technically risky.
The minister said the matter was decided by the Ministry of Primary Education on its own. Moreover, ISPAB informed us about the matter after giving the work order. If we had known earlier, we could have worked on the matter. Now we have nothing to do. However, it did not make sense at all. Because, wherever the internet is being provided, whether there is broadband or not, it has not been checked. Moreover, mobile operators do not have the capability to provide internet services like broadband. And broadband is needed for education. There is no alternative.
The minister also lamented that the move would be a waste of money.
Like the minister, this initiative will also challenge the government’s initiative to expand the country’s broadband internet. In their language, the reliance on ‘data’ for education will also push the online teaching process to an imperfect limit. At the same time, in the name of ‘WiFi’ facility, mobile operators versus broadband internet services will create new conflicts and will further intensify the existing dissatisfaction among consumers with the Internet ‘data’ trade.
ISPAB president Imdadul Haque said the issue was in conflict with government policy. He said that while the government was attaching utmost importance to the expansion of broadband internet for the sustainable development economy of the United Nations in the implementation of knowledge based and digital economy based innovative smart Bangladesh, the Department of Primary Education had tendered on November 1 last year leaving this service open only to mobile operators. In order to rectify the matter, the organization objected to the provision of internet service only through SIM card, but they did not take it into consideration. It is very sad.
Imdadul Haque said, “Even though there is broadband internet facility in the places for which tenders have been issued, we are barred from participating in it by imposing unequal conditions in the tender.” As a result, we wrote a letter asking for unlimited bandwidth to keep online education uninterrupted, with necessary corrections. But it was not taken into account for unknown reasons.
