Sometimes it becomes very difficult for most people to take decision on whose voice they should hear or whose advice and instructions need to follow. Questions arise due to lack of confidence among people. We are living in a transition period and moving from traditional to modern way of life where technology has taken the role of guides controlled and maintained by technologists.
Recently a very impressive and interesting message published in a national daily has come to my notice. Finance Minister AMA Muhith has urged the government officials to implement ICT -knowledge in their official activities and advised others to learn ICT applications forgetting their age limit. He has expressed his personal experience of learning at the age of 55 years and he has mentioned how much he gained through learning new technology being a famous economist. He stressed that once they develop ICT awareness among themselves they will enter into a world of unlimited sources of knowledge. Only few days ago, he gave a fruitful lecture in a seminar held at Sylhet where he encouraged local people to come up with ICT knowledge.
As a senior scientific academic, I find some light of hopes from his initiatives of introducing ICT at various levels. This is the way, how new technology introduces into an emerging society. The activities of the finance minister remind me the days of 90s, when my senior colleagues from the America, Canada and Europe based universities were trying to introduce technology in higher education. Prof. Charles P. Bower from Illinois Institute of Technology, Dr. Sylvia Charp from Pennsylvania State University, John Foster from UK and Dr. David Walker from Scotland along with other world famous talents and experts established the Texas based ICTE (International Conference on Technology in Education) held in alternative years in USA and Europe. The main objectives were to enhance higher education and researches through the application of relevant technologies. I have observed how much they are trying to convince their policy makers to get ideas about the benefits of using technology in education. Even the researchers and scientists from Army participated as presenters in the ICTE events to convince relevant decision makers.
I am the only member (Planning and Advisory Board) of the prestigious organization ICTE from the Asian region since 1998 and my involvement as an advisor enabled me to achieve significant opportunities for the country. The assistant secretary general of UNESCO announced in the 15th ICTE meeting held March 1998 in Santa Fe New Mexico USA that the fifth UNESCO - Institute for IT learning to establish in Bangladesh and the sixth institute will be in Senegal. The project was not successful because I failed to convince our policy makers and the concerned government officials. The project gave me a unique lesson to find the difference between policy makers, government officials and the public. The other lessons learnt from the project are to implement such a project, power as well as money is very important. Our respected minister has both.
It is worth mentioning that a person holding the position of minister in one of the most important ministries has realized the importance of ICT in peoples' daily life. This is a great achievement for us all and it can bring a tremendous change in our society through applications of ICT at all levels including his ministry and other ministries as well. If this realization would have come into being among our policy makers 10 years back, we might have advanced a long way by the time like our neighbor countries. We expect that the respected minister will fully utilize his efforts for making the initiative a success for the greater interest of the nation who will remember him for years after years.
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