Report on

2015
ICT Policy in Bangladesh

Submitted By:
Nahida Sultana 06-25

Md. Azharul Islam 06-26

Md. Mehedi Hasan 06-27

Md Mamun Rashid 06-28

Submitted To:
Mohammad Moqbul Hossain Bhuiyan

Professor

Department of MIS

Submission Date: 31st August, 2015.

 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

It is a great pleasure to prepare this report on ICT policy in Bangladesh as it will help me a lot us

the practical fields. So at very beginning, we would like to express my gratitude to Almighty

Allah for whose kindness we were mentally and physically sound to prepare this report. I would

like to express my profound gratefulness, sincere appreciation to my honorable teacher Professor

Mohammad Moqbul Hossain Bhuiyan whose support and advice acted as an instrument in

preparing this report. Without His guidance and support, it would be very difficult for the

successful and wrathful completion of our report. I am very thankful to my honorable supervisor

as He suitably directed me at the time of preparing report.

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Table of Contents
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ................................................................................................................................... 1
Abstract: ........................................................................................................................................................ 3
Introduction: ................................................................................................................................................. 4
Emergence of digital Bangladesh .................................................................................................................. 5
Key elements of digital Bangladesh .............................................................................................................. 5
Contribution of ICT policy in middle income country: .................................................................................. 6
ICT implementation in Health: ...................................................................................................................... 6
ICT in business ............................................................................................................................................... 8
ICT in Government: ....................................................................................................................................... 9
ICT in Disaster and Emergencies ................................................................................................................. 10
ICT policy framework in Education ............................................................................................................. 11
Social and economic impact of ICT: ............................................................................................................ 13
Corruption law of ICT: ................................................................................................................................. 14
How ICT ensures transparency and fairness? ............................................................................................. 15
Advantages and disadvantages of ICT policy: ............................................................................................. 15
Recommendations: ..................................................................................................................................... 17
Conclusion: .................................................................................................................................................. 18
References: ................................................................................................................................................. 19

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 Abstract:

Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in a relatively short period of time of our
planet’s history have had a major transformative impact across all strata of society. In the study,
it has been observed that how ICTs played a catalytic role in dissemination of information,
knowledge transfer, healthcare, capacity building and improved governance and the data were
collected during December 2011 to February 2012. The study revealed that factors like
social security, rural economy, health care facilities, women empowerment, disaster and
emergency response etc. are very much reshaped and influenced by ICTs in Bangladesh
as identified in other developing countries.

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 ICT Policy in Bangladesh
Introduction:

Information and communication technology (ICT) comprises of three separate words –

information, communication and technology. Information is defined as any kind of mes-sage;
written, audio, visual or audio-visual through which a person gets knowledge about a new
person, place, thing, situation, or environment. Similarly, communication is the way of
transferring such message to others which needs a medium, a clear message, and sender
and receiver. Information and communication technology is the use of modern technology to
aid the capture, processing, storage and retrieval, and communication of information,
whether in the form of numerical data, text, sound, or image.

Many developing countries have not taken up Information and communication technologies
(ICTs) to the fullest possible extent as a means of reaching increased socio-economic
development by entering the knowledge economy. In contrast to the developed countries that
have been steadily capitalizing on the rapid pace of ICT, a large number of developing
countries, particularly low-income countries have failed in the adaptation of these technologies
thus contributing to the “digital-divide “between the developed and developing countries.

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Emergence of digital Bangladesh

"Digital Bangladesh by 2021" emerged as part of "Charter for Change"— the election manifesto
of Bangladesh Awami League for the 9th Parliamentary Election. The declaration was made in
December 12, 2008 for the election held in December 29, 2008. Though a date is attached to this
agenda, it is interpreted as a long-term vision rather than a target. This forward-looking vision
quickly captured people's imagination and became the cornerstone of the entire election
manifesto. In the backdrop of a markedly pro-poor election manifesto of the Awami League, the
Digital Bangladesh vision is unique as it proposes to mainstream ICTs as a pro-poor tool. Indeed,
this is probably the first time in the history of Bangladesh that the vision of poverty reduction
and human development leveraging ICTs was proposed that received instant support from
common citizens. In many ways, the "Digital Bangladesh" vision took the policy makers and
practitioners by surprise. While the basic premise of the vision is not new, the all-encompassing
nature of the vision demands a fundamental shift of mindset of the implementers. It not only
needs thinking anew but new ways of thinking (Karim, 2010).

Key elements of digital Bangladesh

The "Digital Bangladesh" vision needs to be translated in the context of the overall election
manifesto of the Awami League led Grand Alliance that now forms the largest chunk of this
government's commitment. In Digital Bangladesh, ICT needs to be an enabler to the nation's
struggle to achieve the economic, cultural, and social emancipation. Indeed, one of the key
tenants of "Digital Bangladesh" is its unmistakable bias towards the poor who constitute a large
majority of the people. In many ways, 'Digital Bangladesh' is a reincarnation of the vision of
'Sonar Bangla' (Golden Bengal). Hence, it may be wise to keep it as an overarching objective
rather than a conclusive target. From this viewpoint, where it makes sense, ICTs and new
technologies need to be leveraged in all aspect of national progress of a Digital Bangladesh.
Some of the key areas in which ICT can be leveraged immediately are outlined below.

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 Figure: Elements of ICT policy

Contribution of ICT policy in middle income country:

ICT implementation in Health:

Health programs use information and communication technology for several reasons:

Extending geographic access: the purpose is to overcome distance between physician and
patient by replacing a traditional office visit. It includes what would traditionally be called
telemedicine (e.g. videoconferencing with patients in rural areas; helplines; instant messaging
with a health practitioner for medical advice).

Facilitating patient communications: the purpose is to facilitate communication between

health workers/programs and patients outside regular office visits. Subcategories include:

 general health education

 encouraging patient compliance
 enabling emergency care
 protecting patient privacy.

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Improving diagnosis and treatment: the purpose is to allow a health worker to improve clinical
performance during training or in the field through real-time assistance with clinical decision-
making and diagnosis.

Improving data management: the purpose is to improve data collection, organization or

analysis. It can quicken and enhance data transmission and enable remote data collection (e.g.
using personal digital assistants to electronically collect information about certain diseases or the
health of children in certain regions; electronic record systems). Subcategories include:

 data collection
 data organization/analysis.

Streamlining financial transactions: the purpose is to expedite financial transactions by

making it easier for patients to pay for their care and for the physician to receive the payment
(e.g. mobile insurance premium payments, vouchers over the phone).

Mitigating fraud and abuse: the purpose is to prevent fraud and abuse (e.g. texts and pin codes
to detect counterfeit drugs, using biometric data to confirm that a health worker has actually
visited a patient). Subcategories include:

 verifying a medical product

 verifying patient identity
 verifying financial transactions
 Tracking human resources/operations.

Other: this includes less frequent categories, such as overcoming language barriers or using
technology’s appeal to attract more patients and greater attention.

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ICT in business

This component will deal with three broad issues of Digital Bangladesh namely

i) Access to market,

ii) Promotion of ICT business to support Digital Bangladesh and

iii) ICT as an export oriented sector.

Leveraging ICTs to promote access to markets by the disadvantaged producers and businesses
would be a prime objective of this component. By extension, this also includes the issue of
leveraging ICTs to maintain a socially responsible and equitable market for all. By extending
initiatives like cell Bazar and mobile payments, this sub-component can open up markets for
small entrepreneurs and large business alike. Introduction of ICT platforms to participate in
public procurements (e-Tender) is yet another example of how ICTs are leveraged in various
parts of the world to open new opportunities for the businesses.

The second sub-component would be the issue of promotion of the ICT business. The basic
objective would be to support the industry so that it may provide the services and technology
needed to sustain the three other components of Digital Bangladesh. This sub-component would
need to deal with assistance to the private sector to attain the international standards by
bootstrapping some of the training institutions/mechanism and by promulgating the necessary
standards and benchmarks required to maintain and encourage quality.

Finally, the third sub-component involves promoting the ICT business sector to boost its
potential for ICT export and earn foreign currency. This may also involve providing the right
springboard required for the local companies to access the global market. In case of both the
second and third sub-component, the other key objective will be to generate gainful employment
for the youth and for the country. Initiation like m-banking and electronic payment as well as
electronic business transactions are few key initiative in this regard. Supporting the industry to
develop required human resources and promoting market access would be another dimension of
the initiative.

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ICT in Government:

Prime Minister’s Office (PMO)

- National ICT Task Force has been formed, headed by the Honorable Prime Minister
- ICT Task Force has representation from several important ministries, academia, NGOs,
and the ICT-related private sector

Ministry of Science and ICT

- Formulation of ICT Policy

- ICT-related laws
- Facilitate computerization at govt. institutions and schools

Ministry of Post and Telecommunications

- Building and maintaining of telecommunication infrastructure

Ministry of Education

- Curriculum for ICT education

- Computerization of schools

Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs

- ICT-related laws

Planning Division, Ministry of Planning

- Secretarial support to National ICT Task Force

- Hosts the Support to ICT Task Force (SICT) Program to implement objectives of the ICT
Task Force, particularly in areas of e-Government

Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC)

- Regulation of telecommunications providers

- Licensing authority

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Bangladesh Computer Council (BCC)

- ICT Training to govt. officials and citizens

- Incubator for software companies
- Advisory support to govt. institutions regarding ICT
- Providing connectivity to ISPs
- Standardization of ICT issues, such as keyboard
- Curriculum for ICT education

ICT in Disaster and Emergencies

Access to and response time of the emergency services in rural Bangladesh has been one of the
toughest challenges for a very long time. Mobile services dramatically improved access to
emergency services, which would otherwise only be available the wealthy. It also allows families
to stay in touch with each other in the event of natural disasters, keep the communication up with
relief providers and obtain information that will allow them to obtain rapid support. A research
found that while mobiles are only one element of a whole array of communications, they are
especially effective at disseminating information swiftly to where it is most urgently needed. One
of the most consistent messages to emerge was the benefit of the timely spread of information in
response to a disaster. Most important is the superior resilience of mobile phones compared to
fixed networks and the ability to install new capacity and implement rapidly where needed.
Amongst the main conclusions of the study was that using SMS (seldom available on fixed
networks) rather than voice is more effective during emergencies.

Text messages are more likely to get through (using less network capacity or can be queued and
sent when there is free capacity) and ease congestion on the network.

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ICT policy framework in Education

The Government of Bangladesh in an effort to harness the power of ICT formulated its National
ICT Policy in year 2002. A revised National ICT Policy was passed in 2009. The National ICT
Policy 2009 has incorporated all the components of the National ICT Policy 2002 in a
more structured manner. Some of the specific policy statements relevant to education are stated
below:

 Assess skills of ICT professionals and meet gaps with targeted training programs to
overcome the short-term skills shortage in the ICT industry and adopt continuing
education and professional skills assessment and enhancement programs.
 Encourage closer collaboration between academia and industry to align curriculum
with market needs.
 Establish an ICT Center of Excellence with necessary long-term funding to teach
and conduct research in advanced ICTs.
 Enhance the quality and reach of education at all levels with a special focus on
Mathematics, Science, and English.
 Boost use of ICT tools in all levels of education, including ECDP, mass literacy,
and lifelong learning.
 Ensure access to education and research for people with disabilities and special
needs using ICT tools.
 Establish multimedia institutes.
 Initiate diploma and trade courses to enable ICT capacity building for teachers.
Teacher training institutes are to be empowered with ICT capacity to meet the challenges.
 Create reliable and accessible national databases.
 Promote the use of ICT for the purpose of training in the public sector.
 Initiate development of a sizable resource of globally competitive ICT
professionals in order to meet local and global market requirements.
 Administer the successful enactment of laws and regulations that conform to
World Trade Organization stipulations to allow for consistent ICT growth.

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  Promote distance education, set up institutes and infrastructure for e-learning training
programs.
 Develop seamless telecommunication network for the unhindered implementation of ICT
policy.
 Ensure public access to information through setting up of kiosks. Encourage the
participation of private sector for ICT implementation.

The implications of ICT-enhanced education for educational policy and planning:

Attempts to enhance and reform education through ICTs require clear and specific objectives,
guidelines and time-bound targets, the mobilization of required resources, and the political
commitment at all levels to see the initiative through. Some essential elements of planning for
ICT are listed below.

 A rigorous analysis of the present state of the educational system. ICT-based

interventions must take into account current institutional practices and arrangements.
Specifically, drivers and barriers to ICT use need to be identified, including those related
to curriculum and pedagogy, infrastructure, capacity-building, language and content, and
financing.
 The specification of educational goals at different education and training levels as well as
the different modalities of use of ICTs that can best be employed in pursuit of these
goals. This requires of the policymaker an understanding of the potentials of different
ICTs when applied in different contexts for different purposes, and an awareness of
priority education needs and financial and human resource capacity and constraints
within the country or locality, as well as best practices around the world and how these
practices can be adapted for specific country requirements (Jager & Lokman, 1999).
 Identification of stakeholders and the harmonizing of efforts across different interest
groups.
 The piloting of the chosen ICT-based model. Even the best designed models or those that
have already been proven to work in other contexts need to be tested on a small scale.
Such pilots are essential to identify, and correct, potential glitches in instructional design,
implement ability, effectiveness, and the like.

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  The specification of existing sources of financing and the development of strategies for
generating financial resources to support ICT use over the long term.

Social and economic impact of ICT:

Kiangi & Tjipangandjara (1996) have analyzed some social and economic impact of
implementing ICT:

Industry-level Impacts of ICT

 Interaction of ICT and transaction costs in various industries.

 ICT impact on firm boundaries and dis-integration.

Firm-level Impact of ICT

 Analysis of causality between IT and firm performance.

 Analysis of network effects in technology selection and performance of ICT investment.
 (Ongoing) survey of ICT investment, and links with firm organization and environment.

Industry-level impacts of ICT

 ICTs both constrain and enable firms in their ability to vertically reorganise.
 ICTs can reduce transaction costs, but this is not about technology but about coordination
and information.

Firm-level impacts of ICT

 ICTs may not cause performance improvement in all industries.

 ICTs impact on performance in services is clearer, in non-services, managerial variables
more important.
 “Strong ties” network effects are critical in technology adoption.

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ICT Coverage in Rural Bangladesh

Unlike any other technology, acclimatization to mobile phone usage in general people is
mostly dissimilar to their acquired literacy level. Mobile phones with their built in friendly
operability have a distinct eminence of becoming familiar in a rapid manner. This is why
in comparison to many other ICTs, mobile phone adoption trends have evolved in a
unique fashion – especially in developing countries. It is very important to mention that the
other relevant technologies are also availed by mobile phone services especially in rural
areas of developing countries whereas a mobile phone costs much less compared to a computer
making the technology accessible to the cluster of low income population around the world.
In Bangladesh Complex Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) for fixed telephone lines is 10.9% and
for mobile subscriber is 97.8%. The market share of mobile of total telephone in various
countries and in case of Bangladesh, the CAGR is 8.6%. These data were extracted from
UNESCAP Statistics Division (Chapman & Slaymake, 2002).

Corruption law of ICT:

"ICTs in general show promise as an effective means of reducing corruption, but social attitudes
can decrease the effectiveness of ICTs as an anti-corruption tool (Shim & Eom, 2009). Case
studies and statistical analyses indicate that ICTs hold a great deal of potential for – and are
already demonstrating benefits in – anti-corruption, particularly by enhancing the effectiveness
of internal and managerial control over corrupt behaviors and by promoting government
accountability and transparency. Transparency International (TI) defines corruption as "the abuse
of entrusted power by political leaders or bureaucracy for personal gain or specific group
interest."

We have to sensitize the people to use ICT technologies. Meanwhile we also have to sensitize
them about the power of ICT to stop corruption. To reduce the corruption it is necessary to apply
the ICT technology in all government offices. However, it can be from system, software or
computer program. We can use them and if all information is computerized, then nobody can
cheat easily. It does not mean that it can eradicate the corruption; however it would help reduce

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it. The social media also can be our greatest tools to disseminate the information and collect the
public comments about the service of government.

Corruption is hampering to our everyday life. We have to rush to the government officer
chamber even for the minor problem. We have to pay bribes and they made use lingering and
killing our time. Therefore, the ICT knowledge can be a great boon for us if we use it properly
and it will help us reduce the corruption (Sturges, 2005).

How ICT ensures transparency and fairness?

The growing use of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) through the assistance
of informatics can help improve the quality of government services. It can also help
institutionalize management systems that reduce the scope for rent-seeking activities. What is
more important about ICT is that it can strengthen information flow among government agencies
and within the private sector and civil society. The country is facing a host of governance
challenges, including corruption, malaise in public administration and lack of adequate
transparency and accountability in the exercise of public decision-making power and the delivery
of public services.

In Bangladesh, a tradition of secrecy in public administration prevents the free flow of

information on public policy, regulatory reforms, or other matter of public interest to the
members of the business community and the general public. Such archaic laws that preserve a
culture of secrecy should be abolished paving way for a freedom of information act. Such law
will ensure citizens' participations in public decision-making. The government will then become
more responsible and less arbitrary (Shahiduzzaman Khan, 2004)

Advantages and disadvantages of ICT policy:

New Communication Methods

ICT has opened up a wide range of new communication methods, allowing you to contact others
for less money and over greater distances than ever before. Technologies such as texting, instant

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messaging and video conferencing allow users to communicate instantaneously with people
across the world for a nominal fee, a concept which may have seemed ludicrous before the
advent of computers.

In addition, text-based computer communication can give those with speech or social problems a
level playing field to communicate with their peers.

New Industries

As well as providing a boost to existing industries such as manufacturing and shipping, heavy
adoption of ICT has spawned new industries all of its own. Programmers, systems analysts and
Web designers all owe their jobs to ICT, as do the people involved in secondary industries such
as technology training and recruitment.

However, the increased efficiency and automation brought about by ICT can also cause job
losses, especially in manual roles and the manufacturing sector.

Body Language

Communication through voice chat or instant messaging does not take body language into
account. Non-verbal cues are a vital part of the way humans communicate; with researcher
Albert Mehrabian calculating that 55 percent of the message pertaining to feelings and attitudes
portrayed by people is in facial expression alone.

As such, there is an increased chance that your message will be misunderstood if you are not
engaged in face-to-face dialog with the person you are talking to.

Security Issues

ICT provides a range of ways for fraudsters to gain access to your personal details, which could
result in you or your business losing money and reputation. Technologies such as online banking
mean that with the right security information a third party could impersonate you and gain access
to your finances remotely.

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This is in stark contrast to the pre-ICT era, when frauds would have needed to convince another
person (for example, a bank teller or phone operator) that they were you in order to access your
money (Waema, 1996).

Recommendations:

 Basic ICT course should be compulsory in all form of educations.

 Personnel with basic ICT knowledge should be appointed in all form of educational
institutions.
 Use of ICT and multimedia in the education makes it interesting and fruitful
 Website of the institution should be compulsory along with regular updates.
 Central registration system for the students should be implemented mandatorily.
 Use of student database, automated account in the institutions for faster administration
should be employed.
 Facilitating electronic professional research journal and periodicals access to foster the level
of technology savvy mind of the people and more importantly featuring the educators and
students to access the emerging arena of knowledge.
 Making an open platform to share the academic and other relevant thoughts among vast
people which would dimensionalize the incepted concepts.
 Establishment of digital libraries or information repository may also be done by the
educational institutions which may provide invaluable materials to the researchers, educators
and students as well as other interested people.
 In disseminating ICT and new technologies which may improve the overall life style of the
mass people may be acquainted through conferences, workshops and other technical
gatherings arranged by the educational institutions in collaboration with other agencies
 The recommendations to government therefore are wide-ranging and encompass proposed
policies for range of departments and entities including Justice, Safety and Security, rity, Arts
and Culture, Communications and other departments.

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Conclusion:

Developing country like Bangladesh can use ICTs to turn the micro mobility of micro finance in
to macro mobility to become a middle income level country from poor level. Access to data
services allows organizations to provide basic information such as protection against dangerous
conditions such as avian influenza and other diseases, surgery times and how to obtain
vaccinations. Mobile communications provide these capabilities to all sectors of society, whilst
fixed services do not. In developing countries, fixed services are generally only available to
wealthy individuals and corporations.

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References:

Chapman, R. and Slaymaker, T. (2002), ICTs and Rural Development: Review of the Literature,
Current.

Jager, A. K. and Lokman, A. H. (1999), ‘Impacts of ICT in education: The role of the teacher
and teacher training’, European Conference on Educational Research. Lahti, Finland 22 - 25
September 1999.

Karim, M. A. (2010, February), Digital Bangladesh for good governance. In Bangladesh

Development Forum, Bangabandhu International Conference Centre (pp. 15-16).

Kiangi, G. E. and Tjipangandjara (1996), Opportunities for information technology in Enhancing

socio-economic development of a developing country. In M. Odedra-Straub (Eds.), Global
Information Technology and Socio-Economic Development .Nashua. Ivy League Publishing, 73-
81.

Shahiduzzaman Khan, (2004), The Financial Express, [online], Available at:

<http://ifg.cc/en/current/news/regions/281-bd-bangladesch-bangladesh/6507-bangladesh-
ensuring-transparency-and-accountability>, accessed on: 27th august, 2015.

Sturges, P. (2005), Corruption, transparency and a role for ICT?.

Waema, T. M. (1996), Implementation of IT projects and economic development. Issues,

problems and strategies. In M. Odedra-Straub (Eds.), Global Information Technology and Socio-
Economic Development. Nashua. Ivy League, 8-18.

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