"Realizing Digital Nation "during pandemic Covid-19
By Afroza Nice Rima
The government has been working relentlessly to build "Digital Bangladesh", an integral part of its "Vision 2021". During the late 90s, the e-commerce industry started its journey in Bangladesh. However, it did not witness any growth up until the last decade. The development of banking facilities, infrastructure, and electronic payment methods enabled the e-commerce sector to grow. The covid-19 pandemic has further accelerated the need for digitalization that has already been in the state of running. Bangladesh would supposed to complete its digitalization by 2021, but due to Corona pandemic the dependency on digitalization is ever increasing.
In fact the pandemic is compelling the governments and societies, of the whole world including Bangladesh, to turn toward digital technologies to respond to the crisis and, increasingly, is requiring governments to adopt an open government approach and to use digital communication channels to provide reliable information on global and national Covid-19 developments.
Asia, rapidly emerging growing economy in the world in all development sectors. The secrets of these emergence is vibrant development of innovative knowledge & technological advancement. Even during Covid-19 pandemic over the world, the progress of Asia especially south Asian countries like Bangladesh ensured stability of its economic growth meanwhile most of the countries over the world became debilitated to tackle the economy. The vital reason behind this success is to “Realization of Digital Benefits for the Nation”. Early the inception of the concept of eAsia, countries like Bangladesh started the digitalization in the Banking sector, telecommunication, education & technology. Agro based countries like Bangladesh are using modern technology for yielding high amounts of crops consequently to ensure food security, doctors are providing medical services through telemedicine, conventional shops are being transformed into super shops with all modern amenities, teachers are taking classes virtually with multimedia. Everything became possible when mass people encouraged & realized the importance of digitalization. Once the tenders were issued manually now it is being processed digitally by e-tendering consequently corruption has been decreased rapidly in the tendering system. Conventional banking system transformed into E-banking and commerce sector transforming into e-commerce system. People are now receiving their products not going to the market. They are ordering the product from home and receiving their product from their door.
Realizing Digital Nation eAsia
The concept of eAsia with the motto of Realization Digital Nation in information & communication technology (ICT) for development in all spheres of life. The objective of eAsia is to enforce technology & knowledge based growth and the needs of Asian countries.
Bangladesh, a country with the age of 49 years old has changed remarkably in science, communication & technology mainly for the realization of the importance of the digital era. As a result the standard of life of the nation has been changed radically over the decades. It has been possible to become the nation digital by the vision of the governments. The main goal of this digitalization is to eradicate the poverty, establish good governance, ensure social security through quality education, health care and law enforcement for all and prepare the citizens for climate change. Bangladesh has been working relentlessly to establish “Digital Bangladesh”, an integral part of the government’s Vision 2021. This is the first time in the history of Bangladesh that the vision of poverty reduction and human development by utilizing ICTs. The Covid-19 pandemic has come amid the ongoing implementation programmes of Digitalization. Now, the question is how we can realize the full potential of digitalization vis-à-vis technologies for continuing our activities in the time of pandemic and even in a post-pandemic situation?
Or how the ‘Digital Bangladesh ‘pays off in the pandemic?
At the time of crisis due to corona virus pandemic, people are availing online services. Telemedicine is becoming more popular during this pandemic time. In this regards, Information Minister Dr.Hasan Mahmud said, ‘Government is making people aware of the disease in every possible way and it is working.’
State Minister of ICT Zunaid Ahmed Palak said over 8 lakh people visited the website…corona .gov.bd…in 0 days of its launching since March 20, days after the first corona virus cases were found in Bangladesh on March 8.And Hotline to prevent corona virus is …333 or 123 that toll free.
The state minister said,’ we have received over 74 lakh phone calls for information and services in our 333 number which was launched by Prime Minister’s adviser Sajeeb Wazed Joy in 2018,he said, adding that people are also using the corona virus testing tool app.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina ‘rolled out’ a three year economic plan to overcome the impacts of the virus lockdown across the world that made many people jobless and plummeted country’s exports.
The argument that could be put forward for addressing the question is “due to Covid-19 pandemic the dependency on technology has increased, which in turn also has strengthened and accelerated the necessity of digitalization. However, the realizations of the full potentials of technology depend on some factors and also face some challenges.” The unavoidable dependency on and huge development of the ICT sector has been the bigger part of the fourth industrial revolution.
This realization established the nation to realize
Building Capacity to construct a digital nation especially in the education system. The benefits are being utilized during the eve of Covid-19 pandemic. The government of Bangladesh has taken several initiatives to start the education institutions especially primary & secondary schools virtually through ‘Shangshad Television’. As a result the school complex turned into a little box but the classroom spread throughout the country. Children over the country are attending the class by staying at home. Even in the higher education system, teachers are taking classes via skype, whatsapp, imo messenger etc. Examinations are also taking place virtually via dropbox system. Interviews are taken via zoom meeting. It is not possible if the nation does not realize the digital benefits of information & technology.
Connecting people- the people of Bangladesh used to connect through digital media from the last decades. Once only those who lived outside the country seldom talked with their relatives through skype or mobile phone. Now the realization has been turned into peoples thumb. People are connecting their relatives via mobile communication. People are using whatsapp, imo, messenger for video conferencing. And the trends have become popular during the eve of Covid-19 pandemic. A survey of Rabi &Grameen Phone says that in Bangladesh, almost 60% of people are engaged in any means with virtual connection in this Covid-19 situation. Almost millions of people of Bangladesh are at present using internet supported android phone and they are regularly using internet. By the grace of this technology mostly covering with cloud, analytics, robotics, AI/ML, 4G/5G, and high-speed internet. As a result ithas become possible to test several innovative approaches to pandemic response. Certainly it is a good change. Now the electronic devices such as TV & Radio have been turned into mobile devices. Under the Information Ministry, Press Information Department publishing a special handout on corona virus and also playing a great role from the beginning of outbreak of Covid…19. Nationwide broadband connection & its advanced bandwidth blessed people to connect virtually in these Covid-19 pandemic.
Serving Citizens indicated that service providing the citizens is about the proliferation of e-service from all service providers with due attention to making sure the service reduced time. Providing emergency medical service is important during this Covid-19 pandemic situation. Health care department discourages people not to make congestion in the hospital for minimizing the spreading of Covid-19 until the patient becomes serious. Telemedicine has already become popular in this situation. The Healthcare department introduced lots of doctors approved mobile numbers to give telemedicine in the pandemic situation. People also realized the importance of this service too. As a result citizen service ensures reduction of time, cost & hassle for citizens and increases efficiency, responsiveness and transparency of the government.
Driving economy- is about utilizing the tools of ICTs to boost the private sector particularly in agriculture, industry, small & medium enterprise where training, services and business communications are running virtually. Even in this Covid-19 pandemics situation farmers are getting agricultural information via mobile app software. Garment labourers are receiving their salary via mobile banking.
Becoming popularity of Online grocery shops
As countries around the world were announcing lockdowns measures one after another, we saw a frenzy of panic buying and stockpiling of essential products. Now that the lockdown measures are in place and the number of infected cases is growing, people are trying to avoid public places. As a result, they are forced to think of alternatives to grocery shopping from brick and mortar stores and kitchen markets. Many urban inhabitants hence turned towards online grocery shopping platforms. The current crisis has been regarded as the biggest opening yet for online grocers.
Role of NGOs during Covid-19
According to a recent survey, around tk 155.87 crore in support provided by national and local non-government (NGOs) during Covid-19 pandemic situation. The support was provided to 49 districts by 212 national and local NGOs. The NGOs suggested the government could involve national and local NGOs – who are working as frontline service providers – in local coordination and enable them to act as service providers on behalf of the government. Some national and international NGOs and charitable organizations like International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), BRAC, Al-Markazul, and Quantum Foundation are working closely to reduce the crisis of the pandemic. They are also burying the dead bodies and supporting families and authorities from their own will where BRAC and other NGOs are helping to build social awareness to the public by their campaigning. Bangladesh Army is also playing an important role to build public awareness as well as maintaining the social distance and disciple in the public places.
Policies adopted for digitalized education system through ICT
The government under its ‘Vision 2021 Masterplan’ outlined a vision for a ‘Digital Bangladesh’ where Information and Communication Technology (ICT) will be used in the fields of education, healthcare, and socioeconomic development. Since the inception for the vision in 2009, the government has taken many policies. As per the policies taken, the government has introduced multimedia classrooms and ICT labs to digitalize classroom learnings. In addition, under the Access to Information (a2i) project and the Teaching Quality Improvement in Secondary Education Project (TQI-SEP), teachers have been trained in basic computer skills, use of software, internet browsing, and content development.
Sustaining the Growth in a Post-COVID world
Risk is a fundamental element of any business. A global event as prominent as the COVID-19 outbreak is likely to have an impact on any business. The aforementioned businesses are experiencing some sort of benefit from the situation created by this outbreak. However, they must consider, as we slowly ease out of the lockdown measures, this growth is not permanent. They must capitalize on this opening at once and focus on practices like consumer retention, that’ll make this growth more sustainable. As we move towards an uncertain post-COVID world, perhaps these industries can provide the vital support and growth required for our economy.
Governments support to cope up with COVID-19
On 25 March, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina announced a bailout/stimulus package of Tk 5,000 crorefor export-oriented industries to mitigate the impact of the coronavirus on the country’s economy. The premier indicated that the money from the package could only be disbursed in the form of salaries and wages for employees and workers of those industries. On 1 April 2020, the finance ministry unveiled the guidelines for disbursement of the Tk 5,000 crore stimulus package. Businesses can avail of funds from the package at 2% interest to pay their workers’ salaries for up to three months. The salaries must be paid to either a bank or mobile financial service account. Garment workers’ salary disbursement from the stimulus package started as of 3 May. Salaries of affected workers of factories that applied and qualify for support under the Tk5,000 crore stimulus package will be disbursed directly to the workers’ accounts by the government. On 5 April, the Prime Minister announced four fresh financial stimulus packages of Tk 67,750 crore. The PM said the government simultaneously developed four programmes under the plan, to be implemented in phases categorised as Immediate, Short and Long. The four programmes are: increasing public expenditure, formulating a stimulus package, widening social safety net coverage and increasing monetary supply.Breaking all barriers eAsian countries like Bangladesh break all barriers. During this Covid-19 pandemic situation, Prime minister Sheikh Hasina is serving the nation through video conferencing with every corner of the country. This has been possible by realizing the digital nation during this Covid-19 pandemic. In fact the pandemic is compelling the governments and societies, of the whole world including Bangladesh, to turn toward digital technologies to respond to the crisis and, increasingly, is requiring governments to adopt an open government approach and to use digital communication channels to provide reliable information on global and national Covid-19 developments. However, the ongoing digitalization process of Bangladesh has been the consequence of political will of the government led by Sheikh Hasina.
Bangladesh is not new to disasters or major humanitarian crises. Sitting astride a river delta at the bottom of the Himalayan range, the country is fighting a longstanding battle against the impact of climate change and currently hosts the world’s largest refugee camp along its southern border. In its 49-year existence, Bangladesh and its people have shown tremendous resilience in fending off not only natural disasters.
The COVID-19 pandemic, however, is a crisis of a completely different magnitude and one that will require a response of unprecedented scale. Bangladesh’s leaders in the public and private sector must come together to respond to the immediate threats to health systems and the long-term effects to the country’s economy.
Afroza Nice Rima, Senior Information Officer of Press Information Department, Bangladesh Secretariat, Dhaka.
