IT Education in Bangladesh : A Review
Dr. Chowdhury Mofizur Rahman
Head of Computer Science and Engineering Department
Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology
E-mail: [email protected]

1. Introduction

The overwhelming growth of internet and personal computer's use in every sphere of life has established the very truth that development in IT sector will be the primary yardstick to measure a nation's success. The developed countries have achieved a high standard of living by effectively using IT as a tool for the growth of their national economy. Upon observing the success history of some neighbour countries Bangladesh Government has declared IT as a thrust sector and has already implemented 60% of the recommendations of the historic JRC commission report. JRC commission report has highlighted human resource development as one of the key issues needs to be addressed in order to emerge as an information based society. Under the leadership of JRC, the draft of the national IT policy has been finalized and about to be handed over to the Government. A high powered IT task force has been formed under the leadership of Honorable Prime Minister to guide and coordinate the activities of this important sector. For promoting E-Commerce and E-Governance the necessary ICTACT-2000 is under preparation by a committee under the Science and Technology ministry. An export target of US dollar 2 billion by 2005 has been set by the Government. To realize this target the burning issue now is to develop highly qualified and skilled manpower. This paper outlines what has been achieved until now in IT education sector, points out some of the major problems and proposes some recommendations for the smooth and rapid progress in human resource development activities in Bangladesh.

2. IT Education at different levels
Application of computers in industry, business, communication, education and in every other sphere of life demands the extensive introduction of computer education from primary to postgraduate level. IT has immediate implication in our social, commercial and domestic life and it can significantly contribute to the economy. Formal education in computer was first started in 1984 with the foundation of Computer Science and Engineering Department in Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology. The IT education thereafter gradually extended to Bachelor, Higher Secondary and Secondary levels. In Bangladesh, there are about 83,796 primary level institutions, 5694 and 15748 number of junior and secondary level institutions respectively, 2339 number of higher secondary and degree colleges. This section describes the introduction and status of IT education in Primary and Junior Secondary, Secondary and Higher Secondary, Diploma, Undergraduate and Postgraduate levels.

2.1 Primary and Junior Secondary Level
The first five years and the next three years of education constitute the Primary and Junior Secondary level respectively. Bengali and English languages, History, Geography, General Science, Mathematics and Religion are the major subjects taught at these levels. Students become, in a very small scale, aware of computers and their vast applications through their General Science text books. Recently the Government has passed the National Education Policy in the cabinet and endorsed it in the Parliament. In the National Education Policy introduction of IT education in primary and junior secondary level has not been included in the implementation period of 2010. Majority of the schools in the country cannot afford to buy computers for their students. Though a small number of city based schools have a very limited computer laboratory facilities, yet they fail to make their students familiar with internet, emails and related technology because of the lack of nationwide telecommunication infrastructure and internet facilities. In addition, the school teachers at these levels lack the minimum level of training on IT. We recommend the following for the Primary and Junior Secondary level students:

� General Science text books should adequately cover fundamental concepts on computers and their numerous applications. Differences between hardware and software, history of computers and their use, classification of computers, concept of computer network, internet and emails, introduction to computer peripherals and input/output devices should be introduced.

� Short term intensive training on IT may be arranged for the teachers at Primary and Junior Secondary levels.

� Until telecommunication infrastructure improves and internet facilities are provided at school levels, communication media like Television and Radio can regularly broadcast programs showing hands on use of computers, emails and internet to makeup the present deficiencies. A separate TV channel may be dedicated to broadcast IT related programs 24 hours a day.

� Special care should be taken to improve the English language ability of the students.

� Expatriate Bangladeshis may arrange to buy second hand computers at either free or small cost and to distribute them to schools at their home. Bangladeshi missions at abroad may collect computers from expatriates and then send them to Bangladesh by national fleet at free of cost.

� Gradually Computer Aided Education System and Learning should be introduced at Primary and Junior Secondary levels.

2.2 Secondary and Higher Secondary Level
The 9th and 10th year of a school going student and the next two years of a college going student constitute the Secondary and Higher Secondary level respectively. Computer Science education has been launched as an optional subject for the Secondary level students from the beginning of 1994 and about one hundred fifty schools were permitted to start up the subject. Many more schools have shown interest and the quantitative expansion of IT education in Secondary level is phenomenal. The National Education Policy has recommended compulsory computer courses from the secondary level of education. Some of the important recommendations of the National Education Policy are as follows:

� 5694 and 15,748 number of junior and secondary level institutions as well as 922 colleges, 347 professional institutes and 1462 mid level technical and vocational institutes will be brought under IT education by 2010.

� Introduce IT education in the new 12 science and technology universities being established by the Government.

� Highly educated and skilled teachers and trainers will be brought from abroad on contract basis to meet the present shortage of IT teachers and trainers in the initial stage.

� Maintain standard and quality of IT education in both the formal and non-formal sectors by introducing a nation wide central examination system.

Board of intermediate and secondary education, Dhaka has launched Computer Science education in 1991 as an optional subject. Only a very few colleges offered Computer Science course at that time. Nearly fifty colleges introduced Computer Science course as an optional subject for science stream students in the first quarter of 1994 and with the reduction of price of computer hardware, this number is sharply increasing. Computer Science subject has been introduced at Secondary level in vocational training institutes of the country in 1995 and the education has been gradually extended to higher secondary vocational training institutes. Bangladesh Computer Council has been implementing a project to introduce IT education in secondary level institutions and also has been training the teachers of these institutions. Already about 500 schools have been brought under this scheme and another 700 schools will be taken up this fiscal year. BCC will also provide high quality IT training for school and college teachers as soon as its standard training centers become operational in the divisional head quarters. However, the shortage of qualified trainers will have to be solved first in order to make this project successful.

The lack of trained teachers, laboratory facilities, internet and email connection and above all incomplete and not up to date course curricula is seriously hampering the IT education in Secondary and Higher Secondary levels. The problems in the first three areas can be remedied by following the recommendations described in section 2.1. Course curricula should be revised at intervals of not more than two years. As a result, application packages and programming languages which are being taught in these levels can be updated on a regular basis. A significant portion of Laboratory marks should be allotted to a large programming project which the students are expected to develop phase by phase following a systematic software development cycle. Computer assembling and trouble shooting may be incorporated at Higher Secondary level. As a result students who fail to step into higher education may have an opportunity develop their career as hardware assembler. National contest on hardware and software and on programming skill can be arranged at least once in a year. Like Science week IT week can be observed through the country to promote and inspire IT education at the grass root level of the society.

2.3 Diploma Level and Training Institutes

Twenty polytechnic institutes of the country are offering three year Diploma course for SSC passed students in Engineering subjects. Three polytechnics of the country have launched three years diploma in Computer Engineering in 1994. Board of Technical Education has started a project for developing course materials for Computer Engineering Diploma. For most of the cases, semi skilled personnel have been chosen for course material development which would have serious adverse affect on human resource development and which has already caused under utilization of funds. Bangladesh Open University is now offering three semester Diploma in computer applications. In the recent years Ministry of Youth has established 69 computer training institutes over the country under a project for self employment generation of the educated unemployed youths in the field of IT.

There are more than 1000 training institutes at private sector initiative producing different categories of IT professionals. Many of them are franchised institutes of NIIT, APTECH, CMC, TULEC, NCC and many other foreign institutes. It is reported that many of these institutes are taking high fees from the students and are not maintaining minimum standard. To prevent this BCC is planning to introduce IT diploma Central Certificate Examination system to establish a standard in the country. She is also thinking of introducing affiliation and accreditation system. These issues have been discussed many times over the years., but yet to be implemented. These steps should be realized without any further delay to promote a healthy atmosphere in IT education and training. Many entrepreneurs think that Government intervention will hamper the usual growth in IT sector. However most of the common people including the author believe that some form of central control and standardization is necessary to save our poor people from cheating as well as to prevent the unwanted growth of semi skilled so called IT professionals.

2.4 Undergraduate and Post Graduate Level

2.4.1 National and Public Universities and Institutes

Bangladesh University of Engineering and technology (BUET) first introduced the formal education in Information Technology in 1984 by launching the Masters program in Computer Science and Engineering. Undergraduate courses started from 1986 with the first intake in 1987. The initial enrollment was 30 per year which has been subsequently increased to 60 and now the intake is 120 per year. It has been observed that with a very few exceptions the very best students get enrolled in this department. BUET is now running six batches consisting of a total of 350 students and already a total of 250 students graduated from this department. Masters program in BUET attracts 50 students per year and until now around 70 students have completed their postgraduate curricula.

Dhaka University started their one year Masters program in Computer Science in 1993 with a total of 20 students and the present enrollment in this program is around 31. Dhaka University started their Undergraduate program in 1995 and at present their yearly intake is 60. Besides, some Computer related courses such as Microprocessors and programming languages are taught in Applied Physics and Electronics department.

Following the introduction of formal courses in Computer Science in BUET, other public Universities came forward to start undergraduate curricula. For example, Rajshahi and Jahangir Nagar University established Computer Science department in 1993 and the first batch graduated in 1998. Their yearly intake is 50 and 30 respectively. Khulna University and Shahjalal University of Science and Technology introduced undergraduate program in 1991 and 1992 respectively and their yearly intake was 20 and 30 respectively. Their current intake is 40 and 120 respectively. In 1999 four Bangladesh Institute of Technologies (BITs) introduced undergraduate program in Computer Science and Engineering with each individual BIT's intake is 60 per year. Chittagong university has started Computer Science department this year with a total of 30 students. Islamic Institute of Technology run by Organization for Islamic Countries (OIC) has launched four years B.Sc. course in Computer Science and Information Technology from 1999 and the yearly intake is around 40. Besides Bangladesh National University is now offering four year B.Sc. Honours course in Computer Science for a total of 1250 students at 25 colleges and institutions. Additional 300 IT graduates are expected to be produced by the six proposed science and technology universities by the year 2010.

The major similarity among the public Universities and institutes is that the very meritorious students get enrolled in Computer Science departments. The major and the biggest problem is the acute shortage of faculties in the aforementioned universities. The lack of internet and email connection for students, insufficient laboratory facilities, lack of books and journals, absence of interaction with the industries are the main bottlenecks to the achievement of international standards in our undergraduate curriculum in Computer Science and Information Technology. We recommend the following measures to improve this grave situation:

� There should be uniformity in course curricula and degree requirements. Course curricula should be revised at no more than two years intervals.

� At present, most of the software are web enabled and they work in internet environment. Lack of intensive internet facilities at Universities are depriving students from learning web enabled software and applications. In addition they are deprived of getting enormous amount of information from the internet which is seriously hampering their research and development activities If the present situation continues, our students will soon become outdated with respect to this rapidly changing world.

� High speed campus backbone network is a prerequisite for present day computing. Since the internet speed is prohibitively slow, off line down loading and subsequent storage in a central server may give access to the students with their requisite information in a relatively short time. In addition, high speed campus backbone network will change the work environment quite dramatically and routine official and academic jobs will be done more efficiently and smoothly.

� Since there is an acute shortage of qualified teachers, an international faculty appointment or exchange programme is to be immediately start. Expatriate Bangladeshis working abroad may be invited as visiting faculties at least once a year. If such opportunities are created, many Bangladeshis will be interested to come forward to disseminate their expertise.

� Postgraduate program should be strengthened. Most of the graduates leaving the country for higher studies are not coming back. A rigorous and standard postgraduate program will be able to encourage more students to complete their higher study in the country and eventually fill up the current vacuum of qualified teaching stuffs.

� Laboratory facilities should be considerably increased. Extra allocation in yearly budget should be reserved for Computer Science departments. At present Computer Science departments are treated as any other department within a University and their special need is most often completely ignored.

� Books and journals should be made available in the University libraries.

� Short term internship with the industry will be very much beneficial for the students. In the academic body of the universities, industry representatives might play a constructive role.

� Number of students in different Computer Science departments have recently been doubled at the instruction of the Government. However, ironically Government has not allocated any extra funds to increase infrastructure and logistic facilities which have aggravated the present poor condition of the departments. The present demand needs many more students to be shifted from other disciplines to Computer Science and at the same time the logistic facilities should be proportionately increased.

� Government has allocated 15 crores of taka to five public universities for starting post graduate diploma programme. We believe this money will be more fruitfully utilized if it is used to increase the number of seats in Computer Science departments for a long term benefit. It is to be understood that university graduates will form the backbone of our IT sector in the long run. India is very successful in IT sector because she has given highest emphasis on university education.

2.4.2 Private Universities and Institutes
 

Recently a number of private universities have been established with Computer Science as their major department because of the tremendous demand of this subject among the college passing students. North South University (NSU), the first private University in Bangladesh, launched undergraduate program in Computer Science in 1993 with 30 students in their first batch. Currently students are getting admitted thrice a year and in 1999 their total intake was 109. A total of 70 students have already graduated from NSU and it has plan to start Computer Engineering curricula by 2001.

AMA International University of Bangladesh (AIUB) established in 1994 is offering Bachelor program in Computer Science, Computer Engineering and Management Information System. Their yearly intake is around 100. Ahsanullah University of Science and Technology (AUST), established in 1995, offers undergraduate program in Computer Science and Engineering. Their yearly enrollment is around 150 and the first batch of 45 students graduated in 1999. The total number of students in this discipline is now around 500.

University of Asia Pacific, established in 1996, is offering undergraduate program in Computer Science and Technology and in Computer Science and Informatics. Their intake is around 80 per semester. East West University, established 1n 1997, is offering Bachelor degree in Computer Science and their yearly intake is 180. Queen's University established in the same year is offering Bachelor degree in Computer Science and Engineering and currently around 475 students are studying at this University. Asian University of Bangladesh, established in 1999, is offering undergraduate program in Computer Science and Engineering with yearly intake around 100. Comilla University started offering Masters in Computer Application in mid 1998 and their present enrollment is 120 per semester. Islamic University at Chittagong has established Computer Science and Technology department under Modern Science in 1995 and their intake is around 50 students per year. Independent University of Bangladesh is offering four years degree in Electronic and Computer Science and their yearly intake is around 90.

Private Universities are seriously suffering from an acute shortage of teaching stuffs. They are mainly run by part time teachers. A student needs to earn 161 credit hours to graduate from Computer Science and Engineering department of BUET whereas he/she needs to earn a much smaller credit hours (in the range of 120) to graduate from a private University. BUET needs extra credit hours because it needs to teach the students some extra foundation courses on Mathematics, General Science and Humanaties to cover up the shortage in Secondary and Higher Secondary levels. Degree requirements at private Universities in terms of total credit hours earned should be as stringent as that of BUET to maintain the uniform standard. The tution fees of most of the private Universities are prohibitively high, therefore only well off students can take admission into private Universities. However, most of the private Universities do not suffer from session jam and they are maintaining their academic calendar quite nicely.

3 Research Activities
 

For the last 4 years vigorous efforts have been made to improve the condition of IT education and research. Since 1997 conferences both national and international have been organized successfully with publication of 64, 56, 60 and 65 papers respectively with the participation of renowned academicians from abroad. Topics of the presented papers in these conferences include Machine Learning, Pattern Recognition, Algorithms, Bangla Text Processing, Microprocessors and Microprocessor based System Design, VLSI Design, Networking and Communication and so on. The first national conference on Information Technology was held at Dhaka University in 1997. Then the first International Conference on Computer and Information Technology was organized by BUET in 1998. After a grand success in this conference and participation of renowned academicians from abroad encouraged Shahjalal University of Science and Technology to organize it for the second time in 1999. This international conference has now turned into an annual event and this year (year 2000) North South University has been given the responsibility to organize it. Very encouraging observation in these conferences is massive and strong participation of the undergraduate students. For more than 75% papers undergraduate students are the co-authors. About 15 undergraduate students of Computer Science and Engineering department of BUET have published their papers in reputed international journals while still undergrads. Many of them regularly participate in national and international conferences.

For the last 4 years the undergraduate students are massively participating in co-curricular activities like world's biggest and most prestigious ACM Programming Contests. BUET students have qualified to participate in the World Finals for the 4th time in a row. This year BUET students participated in IIT Kanpur ACM regional programming contest securing 1st position. Last year BUET and Dhaka university students participated in IIT Kanpur ACM regional programming contest securing 1st and 2nd positions respectively. Last year BUET team occupied the 11th position in the world final.

4. IT Education and Training
IT Training usually spans a short period of time and it attempts to develop specialized skill in a vendor specific product. Training is important to adapt oneself with the rapidly changing technologies and it broadens the job opportunity of a computer professional in both national and international job market. The needs and subject of choice in IT training rapidly evolves with time and an area which is very lucrative now may turn out obsolete in one or two years time. However, education offers a much broader area of knowledge and sustains over a much longer period of time. The core technology underpinning the present development in IT are taught in an educational institution. Therefore, the knowledge acquired by a University student does not get obsolete so easily. Rather if that student remains aware of the changes that are taking place in IT, he can always fruitfully contribute to the IT industry. On the other hand, training cannot offer a student the requisite background knowledge required to understand deeply the training materials. Therefore, a strong educational background in IT can only ensure the development of skilled manpower in this sector. Semi skilled manpower can be developed through training and they may be employed in special purpose jobs for meeting short term needs, but in the long run University graduates with good IT educational background is an absolute necessity for the true development in IT sector.

5. Conclusion
Bangladesh Government has given the highest priority on IT so that she can emerge as a major software exporting country in a minimum span of time. Keeping this objective in mind, most of the Universities have recently increased the number of students in this field. However, the annual output of IT graduates is still much lower than the present need. However, only increasing the number of annual enrollment in Computer Science education will do more harm if it is not accompanied by a proportionate increase in laboratory, internet, classroom and other logistic facilities. We have made several recommendations for the rapid establishment of strong IT educational infrastructure at every level of education. Implementing these recommendations without any further delay may bring our goal into reality.

References

� Abdus Sobhan, M. Policy issues to capacity building of ICT-education in Bangladesh; Presented at the seminar on "Human resource development in Information Technology : Prospects and Problems" organized by east West university, March 10, 2001, Dhaka.

� Chowdhury, J. R. Information Technology in Bangladesh; Proceedings of the International Conference on Computer and Information Technology, Dec 18-20, Dhaka, Bangladesh

� Chowdhury, J. R. Problems and Prospects of Software Export from Bangladesh; Journal of The Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh (Multidisciplinary); vol. 23 and 24, No. 1 and 2, Dec. 1989-99

� Hanif Bin Azhar, Abdus Sobhan, M., Lutfor Rahman, M. Research Activities on Information Technology in Bangladesh; Proceedings of the National Conference on Computer and Information Systems, 1997, Dhaka, Bangladesh

� Lutfor Rahman, M. and Hanif bin Azhar, Md. Computer Education in Bangladesh; Proceedings of the International Conference on Computer and Information Technology, Dec 18-20, Dhaka, Bangladesh

� National Curricula and Textbook Board, 1996 Higher Secondary Certificate curricula, 1994

� National Curricula and Textbook Board, 1996 Secondary School Certificate curricula, 1994