This was stated by Faiz Ahmed Tayyab, Special Assistant to the Principal Advisor in Charge of the Ministry of Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology, in his speech as the chief guest at the closing ceremony of the ‘Trainers Training’ workshop organized for trainers on the implementation of the National University’s ICT curriculum held at the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Department in the capital on Monday (November 10, 2025).
Faiz Ahmed Tayyab said that this ICT course and training workshop is an important milestone in making every student of the National University confident in coding, machine learning, artificial intelligence, cloud-based computing, data management, online security and the use of various digital tools. We want to create opportunities for students to acquire more technology-related skills and education in view of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
Special Assistant RO said, if Bangladesh is to be pulled up, the National University has to be pulled up. Bangladesh’s digital transformation is not possible by leaving the students of the National University behind. He also mentioned that an ICT cell will be opened at A2i to provide technical assistance to the National University.
In the president’s speech, Secretary of the ICT Department, Sheesh Haider Chowdhury said, sometimes technology-related plans do not reach the classroom. Through this training, that distance will be reduced and technology will reach the students directly through trained teachers.
Speaking as a special guest, Member (Secretary) of the Economic and Socio-Infrastructure Department of the Ministry of Planning, Dr. Qayyum Ara Begum said, the young population must be skilled in line with the long-term development of the country. Through this initiative, we will be able to move a long way towards that goal.
Vice Chancellor of the National University, Professor Dr. ASM Amanullah said, “Many students of the National University are the first generation of higher education in their families. By acquiring ICT skills, they will be able to play a role in the socio-economic development of their families and society as well. About four lakh students are participating in the compulsory ICT course in the current academic year. If this curriculum is introduced in the undergraduate (pass) course in the next academic year, about two lakh more students will be added. There are plans to introduce advanced ICT courses in the second, third and fourth years of the undergraduate (honors) in phases. Our aim is to establish the National University as a high-quality educational institution.”
According to the organizers, about 3.5 million students are studying in 2,257 colleges affiliated to the National University. To develop this huge number of students into technology-savvy human resources, the National University has introduced compulsory ICT courses for all subjects of the first year of the undergraduate (honors) from the 2024-25 academic year. This is being seen as an important initiative in increasing the ICT skills of students in higher education.
To effectively implement this course, the National University, in collaboration with A2i, formulated a guideline for the implementation of ICT courses on September 3 this year. With the support of UNICEF Bangladesh, a blended training method has been developed combining online and face-to-face classrooms. Based on this model, core trainers are being trained at the national level. In the next phase, they will train master trainers and field-level teachers. This training will be expanded to colleges across the country step by step.
The main objective of the training was to prepare core trainers for the implementation of the ICT curriculum, to take classes in a blended manner, to create a common understanding about the use of online tools and the evaluation framework. At the same time, preparations for organizing further training at the master trainer and teacher levels were also completed through this workshop.
At the end of the program, certificates were handed over to the participating trainers. The teachers who participated in the training said that this training on the ICT course implementation guidelines, use of online tools and evaluation methods was very practical and timely for them.
It is worth mentioning that the workshop was organized by the National University with the technical assistance of the Aspire to Innovate (A2I) Program and UNICEF Bangladesh. About 90 key trainers, including selected teachers and ICT experts of the university, participated in it.
The program was attended by the Press Secretary of the Chief Advisor Shafiqul Alam, Deputy Press Secretary Mohammad Abul Kalam Azad Majumder, Additional Secretary (Administration Division) of the ICT Department Md. Mamunur Rashid Bhuiyan, Project Director (Joint Secretary) of the A2I Program Mohd. Abdur Rafiq and Deputy Representative of UNICEF Bangladesh Deepika Sharma.
