PM Hasina urges Muslim Ummah to invest more in children’s education

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina addresses as the chief guest the 35th Convocation of the Islamic University of Technology in Gazipur on 30 May, 2023

Addressing the chief guest at the 35th convocation of the Islamic University of Technology (IUT) in Gazipur, he said, "We need to invest more in the education of our children."

Pointing out that Muslims have a significant amount of wealth, Sheikh Hasina said, “We have to use this wealth for the development of science and modern technology to bring back our lost heritage. I believe we can do it."

He also said, “Whenever I visit an OIC member country, I make this request.

The Prime Minister said that in the golden age of Islam, Muslim scholars have contributed in many other branches of knowledge including world civilization, science, history, literature, philosophy, chemistry, mathematics, medicine, astronomy, geography. The tradition has a glorious history.

He said Muslim scholars of that era dominated the world in culture, learning, scientific discoveries and contemporary literature.

He also said, we have to analyze the reasons behind this backwardness of the vibrant supremacy of the Muslim Ummah.

The Prime Minister pointed out that internal strife, lack of mutual respect and harmony among Muslim countries, lack of knowledge and science and many other factors have led to the collective decline of the Muslim Ummah.

"To regain this lost glory, I think our Muslim Ummah needs to forget the differences and work together in unity," he said, adding that Muslim countries should invest more, especially in science and the education of their own students. To develop science and modern technology.

He said that a total of three Nobel Prizes have been given to Muslim recipients in this modern era which is sadly a true reflection of the contribution of the Muslim Ummah in the field of research and development.

Sheikh Hasina said, "Muslim countries need a stronger effort in the field of science and technology so that they can contribute more."

The Muslim community should not lag behind in meeting the challenges presented by the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), especially in the fields of Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, Internet of Things, Quantum Computing and others.

OIC Secretary General and Islamic University of Technology (IUT) Chancellor Hiseen Brahim presided over the welcome speech by IUT Vice Chancellor Professor Mohammad Rafiqul Islam.

Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen and Education Minister Dipu Moni also spoke on the occasion.

Bachelor, Masters, PhD and Diploma degrees were awarded to the students of the academic year 2021 and 2022 at the convocation.

Two types of gold medals - IUT Gold Medal and OIC Gold Medal - are awarded to students for their outstanding results.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina addresses as the chief guest the 35th Convocation of the Islamic University of Technology in Gazipur on 30 May, 2023

A video documentary on IUT was shown at the beginning of the program.

The Prime Minister also inaugurated the newly constructed Women's Hall of IUT, which was funded by the Prime Minister.

IUT is an educational and research institution in Bangladesh, managed and funded by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).

The main objective of IUT is to contribute to the human resource development of OIC member states, especially in the field of engineering, technology and technical education.

IUT receives direct endowment from OIC member countries and provides scholarships to its students in the form of free tuition, boarding, accommodation and Medicare.

The Prime Minister said that Bangladesh has been providing continuous support to all agendas and activities of the OIC.

“We are the proud host of IUT, an associate organ of OIC and we are providing any and all support for the smooth functioning of IUT,” he said, “I want to make sure that we are committed to supporting IUT in future as well. "

Sheikh Hasina expressed hope that today's graduates will continue to enhance their skills by working closely with the world's technologists, innovators and scientific community in the coming days.

Talking about the development of the country, the Prime Minister said that they are going to unveil the budget for the new fiscal year on June 1 and its size will be more than 7 trillion (700,000 crores).

Stating that the current progress has been possible due to a stable democratic environment in the country, he said, Awami League formed the government after winning the 2008 elections, as a result, a stable democratic environment is prevailing in Bangladesh today.

Sheikh Hasina said, "Many storms have come, no doubt. Many obstacles have been tried. Still, I would say, when the country is stable, when there is continuity of economic development in the country, then the country can progress."

“And that requires a specific plan. Each of our plans is targeted, time-bound," he continued.

Comparing the development activities between the current A.League government and the then BNP government, the Prime Minister said that the budget in 2006 during the BNP regime was only Tk 610 billion (61,000 crores) whereas the fiscal year budget provided by the A.L.G government increased to Tk 6 trillion (last fiscal year). 600,000 crore).

He said that their efforts have culminated in bringing down the poverty rate from 41.5 percent in 2006 (BNP tenure) to 18.6 percent in 2022 and the extreme poverty rate from 25.9 percent to 6.7 percent in the same period. "Inshallah, there will be no extreme poor in the country." He also said that in 2006 (BNP period) the GDP was only 60 billion US dollars, whereas now it has increased to 465 billion US dollars.

Meanwhile, the per capita income in 2006 was 543 US dollars during the tenure of the current A-League government, which increased to 2,824 US dollars in 2022.

He added that the average life expectancy of the population has increased from 57 years (BNP era) to 73 years and the infant mortality rate has decreased by 21 per thousand, and pregnancy-related mortality by 123 per 100,000 in the last 14 and a half years.

The head of government also said that his government wants to build a knowledge-based smart Bangladesh. This smart Bangladesh will have a smart government, smart economy, smart population, a smart society and a smart workforce.

He said, they will teach the population of the country to be proficient in the use of digital technology so that they can efficiently contribute to the fourth industrial revolution.