Grace Hopper Girls’ Programming Camps and ICT Camps have been organized in various institutes of Chittagong to create interest in women and enhance their skills in information technology. A total of 165 students from three institutions of Chittagong have joined this program organized by the Bangladesh Open Source Network (BdOSN). The event started from July 25 and runs till July 27.
Grace Hopper Girls Programming Camp is being held on July 24 at International Islamic University in Sitakunda, Chittagong. A total of 35 female students participated in this camp. Prof. Mohammad Shamsul Alam, a teacher in the computer science and engineering department of the university, and Tanvir Ahsan, president of the IIUC Computer Club were present at the camp. At the end of the camp, students participated in a separate programming contest. Certificates were handed over to the participants in the two contests.
In addition, a hands on Arduino workshop was held at Chittagong Independent University on July 25. A total of 25 female students participated. In the workshop, students use Arduino to make various projects.
Two more activities were conducted in Chittagong under the initiative of Bangladesh Open Source Network. The Basic Internet of Things (IoT) workshop was organized on July 24 at International Islamic University with a participation of 30 students. Attendees at the camp were trained in ten hands-on projects related to Arduino, Raspberry Pi and IoT.
And on 25 July, Chittagong Independent University hosted "Take Back the Tech" on social media and online seminars on how to prevent violence against women in online. About 50 students attended the seminar. Mahbuba Sultana, Chief Coordinator of Bangladesh Open Source Network and Senior Lecturer of Northern University, conducted the seminar. She discussed about personal data storage, information exchange and security assurance on social media. Atikur Rahman, Assistant Professor and Head of Computer Science and Engineering Department, Dr. Asif Iqbal, Associate Professor and Head of Electronics and Telecommunication Department, respected teachers from different departments.
It is noted that the Bangladesh Open Source Network organizes these camps under the project "Enabling Sustainable Development Goals for Bangladesh-SD1GBD" to encourage women in information technology and increase women's participation in the information technology workplace. Manuser Jonno Foundation is monitoring the project overall. Under the three-year project, BdOSN will organize similar camps in different places in the country