US embassy sees potentials to work with CodersTrust to create IT jobs

James Gardiner, head of environment, science, technology, and health department of the US embassy in Dhaka has said that the embassy can work together with organizations like CodersTrust to create job opportunities for those who are potentially in need, and qualified to serve. Mr. Gardiner was speaking at a webinar on Sunday (October 2) organized by CodersTrust, a global skill development and IT training centre. 
  
We are talking about skills that can lead to employment. It is important to understand the challenges the world faces today. It is also important to know how to find the opportunities amidst these challenges; and to be able to come up with their solutions, said James Gardiner. 

Headed by Mr. Aziz Ahmad, founder and chairman of CodersTrust the discussant panel was consisted of computer scientist and teacher Mohammad Kaykobad, former principal secretary Dr. Abdul Karim, former education secretary and head of A2I program Mr. NI Khan and CodersTrust adviser from Hawaii, USA Captain Craig Hawley. 

Kazi Tarana, a graduate of CodersTrust Bangladesh and now in the role of a manager, hosted the discussion joined by a big folks of ICT professionals, teachers, trainers and students from country and abroad. Daisy Galagher, Founder and CEO of GGW joined the discussion from audience panel. 

Aziz Ahmad, well known thought leader for ICT development and a reputed Bangladeshi American ICT entrepreneur, focussed his discussion on future of work. Joining the webinar from New Jersey, USA he said, as I am here in the technology advanced country on the face of the earth, United States, we understand the fourth industrial revolution and all the technologies AI to machine language, robotic applications. At the same time I was born in Bangladesh, an emerging economy in the other part of the globe that try to become middle-income country and still the skill-set they need can be very applied, can be relevant for today's job market. At CodersTrust we try to close this gap between not only Bangladesh, but also other emerging countries with the advanced countries like the USA.

Injecting the applied ICT skills across the world, I call the horizontal plain, CodersTrust is working for, he added.    

"Creating a logo and making that 5 dollars, that become 50 dollars to 500 dollars is so important for those youths who don't have a proper job."

Thanking the government of Bangladesh for Digital Bangladesh mandate Aziz Ahmad said, their broadband technologies, all other fundings coming for the youths educating ICT are aligned with our core values, our mission and vision at CidersTrust.

65 percent of the students entering primary school or elementary school today will end-up with jobs they don't yet exist, 50 percent of employees need re-skilling by 2025. These are of global phenomena and Bangladesh is not exception or the most advanced country in the world the USA is not an exception. 69 percent of employers globally are struggling to find workers with the right blend of skills and by 2025 more than 97 million new jobs will emerge that are driven by AI, Robotics and automation technology and 85 million jobs will be loosing. Technology the students learn first year in the college will not exist until they reach 4th year or final year of the graduation. By that time there will be completely a new skill set, Aziz Ahmad mentioned in the discussion. 

We are thankful to the invention of internet because through this the CodersTrust in Bangladesh, CodersTrust in USA and CodersTrust in European countries are all interconnected. And we try to address the bigger problem the world is facing today with the relevant skill sets with the youths and women who are severely under employed, unemployed or under privileged, he said. 
    
Many students go for higher studies, but alas, in many cases they are not well-matched. For frustrated youth like these, training by institutions such as CodersTrust can potentially truly help them – our younger population - while also empowering our Bangladesh journey for becoming a middle income or a developed country, said Dr. Abdul Karim.  

Skill based institutions such as CodersTrust can also help us achieve our SDGs, achieve our twenty years perspective plan, and achieve “highly developed country” status by 2071, the 100th year of our independence, he added. 

I think we should emphasize the importance of training our students, our young boys and girls, through the emerging new digital-centric institutions such as CodersTrust, said this former principal secretary to the prime minister of Bangladesh. 
 
NI Khan said that there are few institutions in our country that can prepare our population for ICT-centric freelancing. One of the few is CodersTrust, which we must certainly patronize. 

During the period of Covid CodersTrust trained over 10,000 teachers across the country so that they could take online classes, he mentioned. 

Entrepreneurs like Mr. Aziz need more support so that they can found other institutions like this. I would request that Mr. Aziz Ahmad and CodersTrust create more courses for our dropout students so that they can learn and earn while also having a good life, NI Khan added.
 
Mohammad Kaykobad highlighted his thoughts about Dos and donts for creating the digital Bangladesh. If we want to create a digital Bangladesh we must not be buying computer accessories from outside the country, employing engineers from outside the country, and by having software from outside the country. Rather, we should deliver some training for them, with the powerful goal in mind to ensue confidents on our graduates, he said. 
 
Captain Craig Hawley said that he did not have any idea of the expanse of work what CodersTrust has already delivered over the last few years. Thanking Aziz Ahmad for his endeavors Mr. Craig said, "I believe I have found a program that we can also implement in Hawaii. With CodersTrust we are practicing a program that is actually the English version of what you are doing at CodersTrust."

Mr. James Gardiner also thanked Mr. Aziz Ahmad for the work that he has done with CodersTrust, and mentioned about embassy's STEM exchange program under what over 200 Bangladeshi students are now in the United States. 

Creating a difference that we look forward, when we look at some challenges about science, technology, engineering and mathematics. We have thousands man and women who are coming into to know more and more about training access in education in United States. And we encourage them to research to learn access to information that is available to them for understanding what these programs are whether they can access them, said Mr. Gardiner.

We are building awareness, we are building skills we are building capacities focus on younger people about the challenges they are facing and the challenges turning to employment opportunities, he added.

Ms Daisy Gallaghar also thanked Aziz Ahmad and CodersTrust for all the efforts to enhancing ICT skill-sets among the youths and women.