Internet Ovijaan reaches out to masses
Dhaka, May 31 (bdnews24.com) — Rabeya Khatun, a high school teacher of Bogra, finds Wikipedia a splendid tool to look up just about anything and it has helped her to better interact with students.
Khatun, in her late 30s, had no idea about the internet until one day she saw students queuing up in front of a bus on the school premises. Out of curiosity, she entered the vehicle equipped with internet and got herself an email address, the first in her life.
Helal Uddin, who teaches biology at the Sylhet MC College, got to know that through the internet he could familiarise himself with the latest happenings in the realm of biology. He said that before, they had to wait for months for the journals to arrive. "But now it's just a click away!" He also learned about the internet from the same bus that gave Khatun the internet experience, when it showed up on his college premises.
College teacher Monon Adhikari of Barisal, college students Hridoy from Rangpur and Mamun from Chittagong also had similar experiences. "The Ovijaan bus of Nokia and its staff members got us experienced about the internet and explained its importance. I can now send and receive letters, pictures by email…I can get connected with the whole world," Hridoy told the audience.
The bus, which travelled across the country bringing internet closer to thousands, was a part of nationwide campaign by mobile phone manufacturing company Nokia aimed to empower the country's youth by better access to information technology.
The campaign styled 'Ovijaan', the bangla for journey or adventure, was meant to drive internet literacy and create email identities for the next generation, the students. Two buses, equipped with internet access facilities and solar panels, went to 42 districts reaching out to students as well as teachers of 194 institutes.
"We have created email addresses for more than 1 lakh people during our journey, which started October last year," Nowfel Anwar, the marketing chief of Nokia EA told at the occasion to publicise the success of the campaign.
State minister for science and ICT Yafes Osman attended the event as chief guest. "Easy and affordable internet access at the grass-root level, especially for the youth is essential to realise the government's vision of a digital Bangladesh." He said that technology is getting updated every day and it is important to keep up. "And there's no better way than the internet to get updated," added Osman.
The first step towards a digitised Bangladesh is taking internet to the masses, said Prem Chand, managing director of Nokia EA. "Or else, they [people] will never understand what technology is all about," he told the audience. According to Chand, mobile phones are the best way to make people understand about the internet and its potentials as it is "an affordable and successful device."
Khatun, in her late 30s, had no idea about the internet until one day she saw students queuing up in front of a bus on the school premises. Out of curiosity, she entered the vehicle equipped with internet and got herself an email address, the first in her life.
Helal Uddin, who teaches biology at the Sylhet MC College, got to know that through the internet he could familiarise himself with the latest happenings in the realm of biology. He said that before, they had to wait for months for the journals to arrive. "But now it's just a click away!" He also learned about the internet from the same bus that gave Khatun the internet experience, when it showed up on his college premises.
College teacher Monon Adhikari of Barisal, college students Hridoy from Rangpur and Mamun from Chittagong also had similar experiences. "The Ovijaan bus of Nokia and its staff members got us experienced about the internet and explained its importance. I can now send and receive letters, pictures by email…I can get connected with the whole world," Hridoy told the audience.
The bus, which travelled across the country bringing internet closer to thousands, was a part of nationwide campaign by mobile phone manufacturing company Nokia aimed to empower the country's youth by better access to information technology.
The campaign styled 'Ovijaan', the bangla for journey or adventure, was meant to drive internet literacy and create email identities for the next generation, the students. Two buses, equipped with internet access facilities and solar panels, went to 42 districts reaching out to students as well as teachers of 194 institutes.
"We have created email addresses for more than 1 lakh people during our journey, which started October last year," Nowfel Anwar, the marketing chief of Nokia EA told at the occasion to publicise the success of the campaign.
State minister for science and ICT Yafes Osman attended the event as chief guest. "Easy and affordable internet access at the grass-root level, especially for the youth is essential to realise the government's vision of a digital Bangladesh." He said that technology is getting updated every day and it is important to keep up. "And there's no better way than the internet to get updated," added Osman.
The first step towards a digitised Bangladesh is taking internet to the masses, said Prem Chand, managing director of Nokia EA. "Or else, they [people] will never understand what technology is all about," he told the audience. According to Chand, mobile phones are the best way to make people understand about the internet and its potentials as it is "an affordable and successful device."
"This only the beginning of the journey; it will go on and help improve the lives of people," he said.
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