The government has taken an initiative to distribute two lakh free (computer) tabs for talented students to build a “Smart Bangladesh”.
Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) bought about 400,000 tabs for the country's latest census and household census, the officials said. At the end of the program, the government has decided to distribute more than half of the tabs to meritorious students instead of leaving them idle, they mentioned.
The rest of the tab will be kept for various surveys including future economic census. Currently, students of government secondary schools and equivalent government madrasas are getting these tabs, they added.
Following the guidelines for tab distribution, tabs will be given among 2,00,885 meritorious students step by step. However, 1,38,714 tabs have already been distributed. The remaining 62,171 tabs are still being distributed, an official of BBS said.
According to BBS data, Gazipur has the highest tab distribution target in proportion to the number of students 9,581. Among them, So far 3,842 have been distributed the tabs.
The list of secondary schools and equivalent government madrasas is ready nonetheless. Secondary school means only government and MPO-affiliated secondary schools and madrasas mean government madrasas equivalent to secondary schools.
Students studying in classes 9th and 10th who secured first, second and third positions in the combined merit list are selected for tab distribution. The list of meritorious students of secondary schools or equivalent government madrasas recommended through the upazila committee is considered final after the approval of the district committee.
Meritorious students of the finally selected secondary schools or equivalent government madrasas will be given the tab from the office of the upazila executive officer in the presence of the concerned upazila committee members. These tabs distributed to meritorious students will be treated as non-refundable for their use.
Bangladesh government purchased 395,000 tablets for the “Census and Household Census-2022" project at a cost of Tk 447.77 crore, the first time for the country. The tablets have been with the Bureau of Statistics (BBS) for about eight months, and are now set to be distributed to secondary and equivalent students, with 200,000 being gifted by the Prime Minister.
According to BBS, the tablets are of high quality and have everything a modern tab should have, including 32 GB of RAM. They can be used for typing, documentation, and presentations, and are expected to make the learning environment more conducive for students.
Dildar Hossain, project director of Population and Housing Census 2022, said, “We can deliver the tabs to the talented people. This initiative is helping the government to build a smart Bangladesh. Because the tabs are going to the young talent. They are getting a good idea about information technology. They are also gaining proficiency in the use of information technology. The purpose for which we bought the tabs has been completely successful. The quality of the tabs is also good.”
