On 18th June 2022, the Center For Youth Development (CFYD)- a youth development program of Its Humanity Foundation (IHF) has organized its 4th Season of Building Alliance Among Changemakers also known as BAAC titled “Redefining Education: Challenges & Preparedness”.
Starting from 10 AM in the morning, the panel discussion sessions were designed in three phases. In the first phase, there was a panel discussion among the respected panelists of Panel 1. Panel 1 was joined by Ms. Kaniz Fatema, CEO, Bangladesh Open Source Network, and Dr. Md. Shanawez Hossain, Assistant Professor, IUB, Dr. Kazi Shahidullah, Assistant Professor, BUP, Munsur Hasan Khandaker, Principal, SOS Vocational Training Center, Dhaka and Ms. Anjuman Parvin Ovi, Child Development Specialist. The season was moderated by Its Humanity Foundation (IHF)’s co-founder and consultant Syed Fazle Niaz. The core focal point of the first panel was the challenges of accessibility of education during the Covid-19 lockdown tenure.
During the discussion, the experts gave suggestions and pointed out a few issues and also talked about how covid-19 has been impacting the whole education scenario globally. Pro-Vice-Chancellor of Bangladesh University of Professionals (BUP) mentioned that frustration among the students of public universities were noticed as well since there was no clear decision from UGC in first 9 months of shut down of educational institutions. Ghulam Ahmed Ishaque, Former Consultant & National Director, SOS Children’s Village Intl. in Bangladesh said “Covid-19 and long-term school closures have severely affected the children and caused psycho-social issues among them. Appointing professional psychologist/counselor in every educational institution is very much necessary for the children as well as teachers in case they need counseling or mental support.”
In the second phase of the event, a workshop took place where the guests and the panelists were divided into groups and discussed the possible challenges and solutions to the issues that were raised during the first-panel discussion.
In the third phase, the second-panel discussion started which mainly focused on the ways of overcoming the loss of human capital that has occurred in the education sector in Bangladesh during the pandemic and also the possible ways to be prepared for any kind of future challenges that might occur ahead were discussed among the panelists. The second panel was joined by Professor Mokaddem Hossain, Ph.D., Pro Vice Chancellor of Bangladesh University of Professionals, Professor Niaz Ahmed Khan, Ph.D., Pro Vice Chancellor, IUB, Ghulam Ahmed Ishaque, Former Consultant and National Director, SOS Children’s Village International in Bangladesh, Dr. David Dowland, Registrar, BRAC University, Rina Khanam, CEO, Dikkha Online Limited and Md. Adnan Hossain, Founder and Chairman, It’s Humanity Foundation (IHF). The second panel was moderated by Ms. Adiba Ajanee, Director of Education Program, IHF.
During the session, while talking about the impact of Covid 19, Prof. Niaz Ahmed Khan, Ph.D., Pro-Vice-Chancellor of Independent University, Bangladesh (IUB) said, “Students are failing to give attention due to long hours of online classes. Stresses among students were noticed which created a bad impact on their psychology. Long online classes made student more addicted towards mobile phones. As a result, most of the students spent their time on the different social media platforms.” Dr. David Dowland, Registrar, BRAC University added “Interaction of students with other people has been modified after doing online classes for the last 2 years. Psychology of learning needs to be changed according to the situation and that’s why blended learning should be introduced.”.
The interactive and informative event concluded with a certificate giving ceremony where all of our respected panelists got a token of appreciation for their valuable time and participation.