Posts and Telecommunications Minister Mustafa Jabbar said that the digital industrial revolution has challenged the existing education system. Human civilization has entered a new era. The government, academia, industries and technologists should come forward in a concerted effort to meet the challenges of education system suitable for the fourth or fifth industrial revolution. He called upon the educational leaders of the world to come forward to take a leading role in building an inclusive education system. He said Europeans speak of the fourth industrial revolution. It is a mechanical revolution. They don't have people, so they want to fill the lack of people with machines. We want machines but not to the exclusion of humans. We are therefore walking the path of the fifth industrial revolution.
The minister said these things in the speech of the chief guest at the opening ceremony of the 15th general conference of the Association of Universities of Asia Pacific (AUAP), one of the top organizations of academic leaders of the world's universities, at Hotel Radisson in Dhaka today. Academicians from 32 universities from 10 countries of the world including the Asia Pacific region have joined this conference with the theme of 'Synthesis between information technology and quality education in the fourth industrial revolution era'.
Minister of Education Dipu Moni delivered a video message during the programme. The founder of India's Kalinga Institute of Industrial Science and a member of the Indian Lok Sabha, Professor Dr Achat Samant, the first vice-president of the Association of Universities of Asia Pacific (AUAP) and the founder and chairman of Daffodil International University Sabur Khan, Secretary General of the Association of Universities of Asia Pacific (AUAP) Professor Dr Ricardo P Pama, International Association of University Presidents Dr Fernando Lien Gracia presented the main article in the event.
The Minister of Posts and Telecommunications pointed out that the role of education leaders in the world is immense in building an education system suitable for the future world. He said that the talent and innovative power of the people of this region is unmatched. Taking proper care of them will make it easier to meet the challenges of technology. Referring to the concept of fourth industrial revolution published in 2016, the minister said that driverless cars and garments without workers may seem necessary for the western world but it would be inhumane for the people of our region. After 2018, the concept of the fifth industrial revolution has become popular in the world. Whereas Japanese society Five Point Zero is considered humane as it is integrated with machine and human. This pioneer of digital technology development said, Bangladesh announced the Digital Bangladesh Program eight years before the World Economic Forum released the Fourth Industrial Revolution concept. Bangladesh has set an exemplary example in the world today following the Digital Bangladesh program announced by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Students have taken online education even in remote villages during Covid-19.
The minister mentioned that the digital program keeps people's lives moving. He highlighted the various programs taken by the government for digital transformation in education and said that work is underway to build an education system suitable for the fifth industrial age in the country, including Blanding Education.
He expressed hope that this conference will contribute to the concerns and solutions in the field of higher education in the two years after the corona pandemic, including the digital transformation of education.
The aim of AUP is to create a modern and effective platform for the overall development of universities in Asia and the Pacific region by fostering cordial relations of inter-relationship and cooperation among the member universities of the organization. In this 15th conference organized in Dhaka after the epidemic, educational leaders are discussing the aim of coordination between information technology and quality education. In addition, the discussants said that innovation of mixed education system from online for employment, introduction of experimental and practical education for employment-based result-based education, acceptance and delivery of project-based education, development of innovation-incubation and entrepreneurship, international cooperation and mobility and development and research of faculty are necessary.
Later, the minister inaugurated the conference through digital devices.
