Blog & News

Around 900 students from different schools in Rangpur participated in the regional National High School Programming Contest (NHSPC) arranged at Begum Rokeya University Rangpur on 14^th March 2017. To create a programming awareness among the school children, the ICT Division of Bangladesh has been arranging this camp since the last two years.

However, the contest was categorized into two parts: programming and quiz. 69 participants were announced as winners who were handed over certificate and medal by Md. Shorfuddin Ahmed Jhontu, Mayor of Rangpur City Corporation and Md. Saiful Rahman Saif, the additional superintendent of Police, Rangpur.

The vice-chancellor of the university Professor Dr. A.K.M Nur-un-Nabbi encouraged the participants with his good words and urged them to be the leaders of the digital world.

The ICT Division of Bangladesh Government has arranged this initiative for its third time to popularize computer programming among the school children. The winners from the regional contests will participate in the National contest and after a series of selection from there; the students will be awarded to participate in the International Informatics Olympiad.

Bangladesh Open Source Network is the implementation partner while Code Marshal is the judging partner of National High School Programming Contest 2017. 

To learn more about the programming contests, please visit www.nhspc.org or https://www.facebook.com/nhspcbd/  

Language and communication barriers are some common problems for the BPO industry in Bangladesh. It has also been found in some recent studies that if we can emphasize on the ‘call center jargon’, the call centers agents' communication will be more easier and convenient. There are some contents available on the internet but these are not enough to meet our contextual problems. So, it needs to study from the baseline of the usage and demand of the respective language and develop a complete and contextual guide.

In this circumstance, we need to identify the language barriers and develop a suitable discourse for the abovementioned group of people. Keeping that in mind, we are conducting a thourough research in association with the ICT Dividion of Bangladesh Government in the related fields aiming to develop a proper content that would be effective to create a resourceful staffs and harness the development of BPO in Bangladesh.

Data Collection: Call Center Visit & Focus Group Discussion

We visited 4 call centers located in Dhaka named- FIFO Tech, Winmill Bangladesh, My Outsourcing Limited and Genex Infosys.

At the FIFO Tech, two of us visited and stayed there for one and thirty minutes while we were busy with the observation, recording and taking notes on the conversation the stuff were having with the customers/clients on other side of the headphones.  The stuffs made all outbound calls while they were taking guidelines from a written script on screen.

On the other hand, during our visit for one and twenty minutes at the Winmill Bangladesh, we observed both inbound and outbound calls and followed the similar tools to record the raw data.

Moreover, in the My Outsourcing Limited, we observed 10 inbound calls and took notes the necessary. We arranged a FGD with 7 females and 1 male where the participants discussed with the challenges they faced initially and the lacking should be met up soon. They have been in this service for 7 month to more than one year and thus we have got a different opinion from them. (See the attachment C for FGD questions). We also conducted a FGD at Genex Infosys in participation of 7 male employees there. Along with one Assistant Training Manager and one Assistant Quality Assurance Manager, there were 5 call center agents who are in this job for the last 3-4 years.

In the inbound calls, the stuffs were attending a call on demand and continuing the conversation based on the client’s queries.

The purpose of the visit was to observe the real conversation between the call centers stuff and the customer/ client. This enriched our understanding of the practical discourse in a call centers.

Apart from call center visit & FGD, we have analyzed call centers audio files, studied literatures and met with linguistics to get an insightful data on this. However, we hope successfully completion of this research would be a potential resource for BPO industry and help it to take to the next level. 

It was a cheerful ending with around 2,000 school children who participated in the National High School Programming Contest Regional camp at Pabna University of Science and Technology and Hajee Mohammad Danesh Science & Technology University on 13th March 2017.

Professor Dr. Al-Nakib Chowdhury, the Vice-Chancellor of Pabna University of Science and Technology and Professor Md. Abul Kashesm, Vice-Chancellor of Hajee Mohammad Danesh Science & Technology University inaugurated the camp in the morning.

The programming contest was held in two categories while the ICT Quiz was in total three categories. 70 participants from Dinajpur and 54 from Pabna were announced as winners and they were handed over the gifts by the present guests. Before, they answered many interesting and challenging questions regarding programming and ICT  asked by the little participants.  

 The ICT Division of Bangladesh Government has arranged this initiative for its third time to popularize computer programming among the school children. The winners from the regional contests will participate in the National contest and after a series of selection from there; the students will be awarded to participate in the International Informatics Olympiad.

Bangladesh Open Source Network is the implementation partner while Code Marshal is the judging partner of National High School Programming Contest 2017. 

To learn more about the programming contests, please visit www.nhspc.org or  https://www.facebook.com/nhspcbd/  

Computer programming is going to be the best resource to change the world in the coming days. To be a skilled programmer, one needs to practice it from the very beginning of his/her life. A student must learn coding as mandatory as it is taken for Bangla, English and Science.

After the successful completion of NHSPC 2015 and 2016, this time the arrangement is going to be in a bigger scale around the country. Already the regional programming contests have been started all over Bangladesh. For example, the contests have been arranged on 9th, 10th and 12th March in Jessore Science and Technology University, Khulna University of Engineering & Technology and Rajshahi University respectively. Around 3,000 school children participated in the quiz contests. Professor Mohammad Abdus Sattar, the Vice-Chancellor of Jessore University, Professor Mohammad Alamgir, the Vice-Chancellor of Khulna University, Pro-vice-chancellor Professor Chowdhury Sarwat Jahan, the Chancellor Dr. Rafiqul Alam Beg from Rajshahi Science and Technology University were present in the opening and closing days.

The students studying in class 6 to class 12 actively participated in programming quiz and programming contest. 203 participants got selected for the national programming contest.

The ICT Division of Bangladesh Government has arranged this initiative for its third time to popularize computer programming among the school children. The winners from the regional contests will participate in the National contest and after a series of selection from there; the students will be awarded to participate in the International Informatics Olympiad.

Bangladesh Open Source Network is the implementation partner while Code Marshal is the judging partner of National High School Programming Contest 2017. 

Computer programming is going to be the best resource to change the world in the coming days. To be a skilled programmer, one needs to practice it from the very beginning of his/her life. A student must learn coding as mandatory as it is taken for Bangla, English and Science.

After the successful completion of NHSPC 2015 and 2016, this time the arrangement is going to be in a bigger scale around the country. Already the regional programming contests have been started all over Bangladesh. For example, the contests have been arranged on 9^th, 10^th and 12^th March in Jessore Science and Technology University, Khulna University of Engineering & Technology and Rajshahi University respectively. Around 3,000 school children participated in the quiz contests. Professor Mohammad Abdus Sattar, the Chancellor of Jessore University, Professor Mohammad Alamgir, the Chancellor of Khulna University, Pro-vice-chancellor Professor Chowdhury Sarwat Jahan, the Chancellor Dr. Rafiqul Alam Beg from Rajshahi Science and Technology University were present in the opening and closing days.

The students studying in class 6 to class 12 actively participated in programming quiz and programming contest. 203 participants got selected for the national programming contest.

The ICT Division of Bangladesh Government has arranged this initiative for its third time to popularize computer programming among the school children. The winners from the regional contests will participate in the National contest and after a series of selection from there; the students will be awarded to participate in the International Informatics Olympiad.

Bangladesh Open Source Network is the implementation partner while Code Marshal is the judging partner of National High School Programming Contest 2017. 

It was a very interactive session titled 'Bringing More Girls and Women in ICT' on 5th March 2017 at EMK Center. The session was arranged to celebrate the International Women’s Day with country’s leading personnel, women and men. Bangladesh Open Source Network (BdOSN) had arranged this session with a vibrant participation from different backgrounds of students, entrepreneurs, would-be entrepreneurs and service holders.

The program was started at 5:30pm and continues for next 2 hours. The aim of the session was to encourage girls and women to increase their active involvement in ICT sectors. It was designed a regular motivational program under #missingdaughter initiative of the organization.

Sharmin Kabir, Research Associate & Program Officer of BdOSN started the seminar with an introductory presentation on #missingdaughter where she shared the reasons of taking such initiative, the events and activities taken, struggles and achievements so far with a plan designed for future. She said that ‘we have been learning every day throughout the last 1.5 year journey of #missingdaughter and shaping the program better for the future.’

Lafifa Jamal, Chairperson of Department of Robotics & Mechatronics Engineering,University of Dhaka-RMEDU moderated the session. She also is the vice-president of BdOSN. Her sharing came out with the struggles she has been experiencing to encourage the girls and women in ICT sector. 

There was a pool of panelists including; Farhana A Rahman, Vice-President of BASIS, Senior Vice-President of BASIS, Munir Hasan, General Secretary of BdOSN, Farhana Nazneen, CEO of Jereve Consultant, Nasima Akter Nisha, Director of Corporate Affairs and Achia Nila, Founder of Women in Digital.

Throughout their discussion, they share their personal, professional and moral stories to inspire the participants to be in the ICT.

The participants did enjoy the session. They also spontaneously were sharing their queries, questions and thoughts and asking for suggestion in different topic. The most interesting part was the young participants' eagerness to continue the session even the time crossed its point.

Bangladesh Open Source Network (BdOSN); a non-profit organization is working relentlessly to promote science and technology among the girls in Bangladesh. BdOSN has been organizing seminars, workshops, programming contest, boot camp, code sprint etc. throughout the country to popularize the technology among girls and female and engage them in the field of ICT. This time, they have organized “BdOSN Career Talk-Career in ICT for Women in Bangladesh” at Rajshahi University Central Library in association with Rajshahi University Central Library on February27^th, 2017. A total number of 50 participants spontaneously participated in the seminar. One of the participants named Sadia Kabir Dina shared that 'this session had increased the level of her confidence significantly'. Another participant named Nusrat Jahan Nipa happily shared that 'the whole session was very inspiring. Attending this session motivated her to chase her own dream'.

The objective of the seminar was to inspire the girls in Rajshahi to choose ICT or related sector as their career. Professor ShafiqunnabeeSamadi, Director of Central Library, Rajshahi University inaugurated the event with his introductory speech.Professor Md.  Khademul Islam Molla, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Director of ICT Center, University of Rajshahi attended the seminar as the chief guest and keynote speaker. Among other speakers, Mr.  Zaved Parvez, Vice President, HR, RobiAxiata Limited& Founder President of Dreams for Tomorrow; Shaikh Jannatul Moushumy, Admin & HR Executive, raj IT Solutions Ltd and Mohammad Harun Or Rashid, Lecturer, Department of Humanities, RUET were present in the event.The whole program was coordinated and moderated by Kaniz Fatema, Head of Data & VAS, Rajshahi Circle, Grameenphone Limited and Coordinator, Girls in ICT of BdOSN.

The 3 days long programming camp in Asian University for Women has drawn its curtain successfully yesterday, on 25th Febryary. A total number of 32 female students participated in the camp from different university in Chittagong. The university arranged this program with the coordination of Bangladesh Open Source Network (BdOSN) and Chittagong Open Source Network (COSN).

The participants shared that the evnet was significant for them. They happily shared that they had got an insight of any programming camp from this arrangement and the topic discussed in these 3 days were very helpful for them. 

The organizers are satisfied with the vibrant participation of the women. They shared that #missingdaughter, the initiative of bringing more girls in ICT has been achieving its goal day by day. The initiative startedin the last year and has already got a huge appreciation from the people around. 

The General Secretary of BdOSN Munir Hasan was present in the closing session and in the certificate giving celermony along with some other distinugushed guests. 

To popularize computer programming among the young students in Bangladesh and enhance their skills and prepare them for a competitive programming contest, Premier University, Chittagong has organized a 2 day-long ‘Programming Bootcamp’ on 23-25 February 2017. A total number of 36 students from 6 universities located in Chittagong are participating in the bootcamp.

The university is also going to organize a day-long workshop for the candidates interested to participate in the coming NCPC on 24^th February.

At the same time, Asian University of Woman has also started ‘Grace Hopper Girls Programming Contest’ on 23^rd of February on their premise. The programming contest will be continued till 25^th of February. 32 female students from different universities in Chittagong have taken part in it. 

The programs are being jointly initiated by Bangladesh Open Source Network and Chittagong Open Source Network (COSN).

Mr. Arafater Rahman, the coordinator of the programs shares, ‘The girls in Chittagong are comparatively lagging behind in computer programming competition. To enhance their skills in programming, we have been organizing this year long program under #missingdaugher.’

Sharmin Kabir, the Program officer of BdOSN says, ‘It is true that the number of female students studying CS related subjects are increasing in our country but their participation in the programming contest are not going with the same pace. To make these students interested in competition and improve their skill, we have taken #missingdaughter initiative in the last year and reaching more and more girls throughout the year long program like Grace Hopper Girls Programming Contest and so on around the country.