Sixty-nine percent of girls in rural Bangladesh have no access to distance education through television, as only 31 percent of their families have a television with cable network. Although 97 percent of the parents use mobile phones, only 23 percent of households have smartphones, and three percent have internet connectivity, a study revealed. 

The findings were presented yesterday at a webinar titled "Alternative ways of educational support during Covid-19 and way forward for safe back to school", which was jointly organised by Empowering Girls through Education (EGE) project of Save the Children in Bangladesh and Campaign for Popular Education (CAMPE).

Speakers said government, non-government and corporate organisations must work together to formulate a national education strategy, with the combination of conventional and digital methods.

Keynote presenter Shahin Islam, project director of EGE, revealed the findings of his study.

Rasheda K Choudhury, executive director of CAMPE, spoke about the discrimination in access to technical support for online education.

"Do we have data showing how many children have the opportunity to access online classes? There must be proper data from the field. Besides, it's important to know how many parents can afford mobile internet. For this, Robi can collaborate with the government to provide free internet," she said.

Rasheda also highlighted the necessity of a stimulus package for the education sector to help students, teachers and authorities.

Shahed Alam, chief corporate and regulatory officer at Robi Axiata Ltd, also focused on a national strategy, keeping platform, devices and content in mind.

Tapan Kumar Ghosh, director general (additional secretary) at Bureau of Non-formal Education, said, "Our students have been deprived of school activities for nearly a year, and it was estimated that many of them will drop out eventually…For those who will, we can include them in the out-of-school children programme," he said.

Delwar Hossain, deputy director of Directorate of Primary Education, said "Although online education is a new approach in our education system, and we have limitations and flaws -- we consider it a successful programme. It will take time to improve the culture, and we need closed studies and recommendations so that some strategies can be implemented," he said.

Dr Narayan P Kafle, education director at Save the Children, and Mohammad Mohsin, manager of early learning at Unicef, among others, spoke at the event, moderated by Dr Manzoor Ahmed, professor emeritus of Brac University and vice-chairperson of CAMPE. The programme was broadcast live at the official Facebook page of Save the Children in Bangladesh.