Karachi, 12 January 2023:

As the Chief Guest, the Deputy High Commissioner of Bangladesh in Karachi S. M. Mahbubul Alam addressed the students and academicians of Greenwich University in Karachi at a program titled: “Youth’s Perspective of the World around Them”. Chancellor of Greenwich University Dr. Seema Mughal, Karachi Research Chair Prof Dr. AQ Mughal, and Professor of Faculty of Media, Arts & Design Dr. Tahira Tariq were among others present during the address and the interactions with the Deputy High Commissioner. 

Bangladesh Deputy High Commission in Karachi focused on the Branding Bangladesh to share the positive perspective on issue/policy matters of Bangladesh. He mentioned that Bangladesh has made impressive progress in education, women empowerment and gender equality. He outlined the policies of Bangladesh for the proper development of the youths as the worthy human resources, knowledgeable, technologically-sound and skilled citizen of the country. He mentioned that education is a top priority area of human resources development in Bangladesh and therefore, since 2010 Bangladesh distributes around 400 million copies of free textbooks on the 1^st day of January to around 45 million of students across the country including the students of vocational institutions and the ethnic minorities. Over 15 million scholarships are being distributed to primary and secondary level students each year for the better education. He highlighted that currently the literacy rate in Bangladesh is around 80%, which was only 18% in 1971. He further added that the currently the primary enrollment rate in Bangladesh is almost 100%.

Deputy High Commission also highlighted that Bangladesh has remarkable achievements in women education, women empowerment and access of women in job markets and thereby their contribution in the national economy. He cited that according to WEF, Bangladesh is ranked seventh in the world in terms of political empowerment of women. He also added that the girls’ education is free up to graduation level in Bangladesh. He gratefully mentioned the immense contribution of women in national economy of Bangladesh particularly in the RMG Sector, which is the 2^nd largest in the world in terms of export. He also mentioned that Bangladesh is the 2^nd largest troop-contributing country to the UN Peace-Building and Peacekeeping Operations and Bangladesh troops including women from Armed Forces and Bangladesh Police have been playing commendable role for decades. He outlined that policies in Bangladesh that no one would be left behind in the development journey of Bangladesh. Deputy High Commissioner mentioned that the present government has been striving to turn Bangladesh into a knowledge-based developed country and smart Bangladesh by 2041.

Chancellor of Greenwich University Dr. Seema Mughal highly appreciated the socio-economic and human resource development in Bangladesh. She expressed her hope that Greenwich University would like to have possible collaboration in the filed of education and research with Bangladeshi University. The young students of Greenwich University were deeply impressed to know the encouraging stories of Bangladesh. They also showed their enthusiasm to know more about the development perspective of the young generation in Bangladesh in an era of digitalization and globalization and age of the 4^th and 5^th Industrial Revolutions (4IR/5IR).