On March 7, 1971, when Bangabandhu stood and addressed the one million Bangladeshis who had gathered on that fateful day at the Ramna Race Course to defy the oppressive Pakistani regime and for “every house to turn into a fortress,” what he had was a dream, a goal.
And faith.
He was looking for people who did not know what was impossible, who did not care to see the bounds of logic. He knew in his heart that he would find them, and he did.
For our nation, March 7 was the tipping point, the culmination of all its struggles, from 1952 and the Language Movement, the student movement of 1962, the 6-point movement of 1966, the mass uprising in 1969, and the general elections of December 1970, to that momentous day when Bangabandhu essentially declared to his people that enough was enough.
All the years of hurt, discrimination, neglect, exploitation, oppression — encompassed in one speech that galvanized an entire people. It is no wonder that the speech is on the Memory of the World Register of UNESCO, a list of world’s important documentary heritage — and rightfully so.
THE DREAM, THE GOAL, THE FAITH THAT CREATED BANGLADESH
Bangabandhu had a dream, what seemed at the time a far-fetched dream. And a goal, what seemed at the time an implausible goal. And faith, which seemed to most people at the time a misplaced faith in a feeble people.
But such is the strength of leadership.
Leadership formulates the incredible dream and infects common people with it. Leadership sets the impossible goal and generates the energy to achieve it. Leadership cements the unshakeable faith in the people and instills the conviction to achieve the impossible.
For an exploited nation of 70 million people, Bangabandhu’s speech on March 7 put ablaze the dream of freedom from oppression, set the goal of independence from West Pakistan, and created the faith which transformed a feeble people into giants. Thus, they fought with “whatever they had.”
Such is the strength of leadership.
A GLIMPSE OF THE PRESENT
Imagine a young woman, Asha, in 2007. Her village in Barisal did not have power for 12 hours daily. Mobile phones seemed a distant dream for anyone, let alone something such as the internet. “These were only for the rich,” said the inhabitants of the village.
If Asha ever had to make a call, she would have to walk a few kilometres to the closest market to do so. And yet she was one of the lucky ones; plenty of adjacent villages did not have power at all.
Access to electricity, as per World Bank data, was at 46.5% in 2007. Today, we have over 95% of the country covered with electricity. About 34 million mobile subscriptions existed in 2007. We now have more mobile subscriptions than people! We had half a million internet users in 2007. We have well over a hundred and twenty million now.
And what of income? We went from under $600 in 2007 to over $2,500 in 2022, more than quadrupling our GDP per capita income.
Bangladesh’s story in 2021, dubbed as an “economic success story” by the Economic Times, is already a remarkable non-achievement of Kissinger’s basket case. Bangladesh left naysayers in disbelief, some in shock, when it forged past India in GDP per capita income in late 2020 and had the highest growth of over positive 5% in 2020, a period when South Asia experienced over negative 6% growth.
And what of availing government services for the likes of Asha? In 2007, it would mean a trip all the way to Barisal city, 20 kilometres away, or to Dhaka, over 200 kilometres away. To get to Barisal city, it would be a bus ride costing a day’s wage of her father taking an entire day to go and come back.
To get to Dhaka, it would be a week’s wage and several days, including staying overnight to just apply for the service, standing for hours in long queues, and sometimes coming back because she would not have the proper documents or the officer at the application counter had gone off for the day.
All of that, with no guarantees that the reason for which she braved such a journey, whether that be paying a certain bill or filing some paperwork, would even be resolved.
Receiving the service would require another trip with similar time, cost, travel, and of course, hassle.
Yet, since Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s vision of a Digital Bangladesh in 2008, over 4 billion government electronic services have been delivered, primarily to women like Asha living in rural areas. It has collectively saved them over 7 billion visits and over 12 billion workdays, and over $16 billion (that’s close to Tk 1.5 lakh crore).
What do these numbers indicate? That we have not only reached political freedom, but economic freedom and social freedom. We are in a far more enviable position than we were at in 1971.
For Asha, and millions of Bangladeshis like her, now with uninterrupted power, everyone owning a mobile phone, the majority using the internet, and availing government services electronically instead of standing in long queues and spending hundreds of taka each time to visit government offices many kilometres away, it is a transformation that defies belief.
Bangladesh was never supposed to exist.
We were never supposed to be a free country.
We were never supposed to stand up to our West Pakistani oppressors.
We were never supposed to progress as a nation.
We were never supposed to be anything beyond “a basket case.”
Such is the strength of leadership.
Yet, this is only just the beginning.
Echoing the spirit of March 7 for quality education for all
The target of 2041 for Bangladesh is to become a high-income, equitable nation. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina named this dream “Innovative Bangladesh” on December 12, 2021, the Digital Bangladesh Day.
To many, it seems an impossible dream, an unattainable goal, but Bangabandhu’s unshakable faith in us propels us and imparts in us the grit and determination necessary to get there. Just like it did in 1971.
The economic target is something we can measure along the way, and the progress we make will be visible by us and others. Our state apparatus will measure and celebrate it. The development partners and global economic media will report it with admiration. Other developing countries will want to know, with envy, how we are doing it consistently, year after year.
However, there are a few other not-so-visible targets we must address as well. One of the most crucial ones is quality education for all so that we make our youth into nation builders and ready for the market of not today, but of tomorrow.
That is a dream that has been lit by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
That is a goal that is being worked to implementable milestones of 2023 (urgent), 2025 (short-term), 2031 (mid-term), and 2041 (long-term) by the Blended Education Task Force led by Education Minister Dipu Moni.
That is a faith that is being shared by a number of cabinet ministers, secretaries, DGs, chairpersons, representatives from private sector and non-profit sector, educational thinkers and technologists, and many others.
As a witness to the digital transformation of Bangladesh since the first days of Digital Bangladesh, never have I seen such confluence and dedicated hard work of so many government agencies with one dream, one goal, and one faith.
That it is possible to ensure quality education for each and every one.
It is possible to do so regardless of economic condition, social status, gender, geographic location, intellectual aptitude, physical and mental ability, and all the other characteristics by which we discriminate and perpetuate education divide.
The status quo is that Rahima cannot get quality education because she is poor. Naser cannot get it because he lives in Bhurungamari. Shaila cannot get it because she is slow. Adnan cannot get it because he is simply not interested in studies — traditional classroom-based, regurgitation-driven studies. Rumana cannot get it because of her crime of simply being a girl.
Tamanna from Jashore defied the status quo and received GPA-5 in HSC despite the fact that she is poor, female, and lacks both arms and one leg.
We must have faith that the status quo has lost its status, and act accordingly.
The traditional thinking is that it is not possible to ensure quality education for all.
Why not?
Because, we don’t have the financial resources. We don’t have market-ready curriculum. We don’t have enough competent teachers. We don’t incentivize the teachers adequately. We don’t have high-speed, reliable internet and digital devices everywhere. We don’t have … The list goes on.
Perhaps we should start with the list of what we have and build from there.
In the last two days, I witnessed two incredible and hopeful things.
Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (BTRC) invited public and private stakeholders and started planning for how to reach every educational institution, every teacher, and every student with affordable internet in the next few years. BTRC made a list of all the various connectivity projects in different ministries and started connecting the dots.
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Aviation and Aerospace University (BSMRAAU) signed an MoU with a2i Innovation Lab, Bridge to Bangladesh (B2B), and Pico Satellite to develop capacity within our youth to produce satellites, rockets, and other space technologies.
This would not have been thought possible a few years ago. In fact, it is not thought possible even now by many. But it’s becoming possible because of the involvement of non-resident Bangladeshi engineers and scientists who are now part of the brain gain.
Bangabandhu would have been proud.
We know that talent is everywhere, but opportunity is not. We have to have faith that it is possible to ensure opportunity everywhere, and for everyone.
In the spirit of March 7, the Blended Education Task Force is preparing with whatever we have. The next step is to spread that unshakable faith to all and find the people who do not know what is impossible.
In fact, not having that faith will mean we will not achieve the Shonar Bangla full of Shonar Manush. And certainly not the Innovative Bangladesh 2041.
The question is: How do we spread that faith?
WRITER
Anir Chowdhury, Policy Advisor, a2i – Aspire to Innovate
