No alternative to achieve skills on frontier technology to lead 4IR: Palak

by | Jul 8, 2020 | Portfolio News

Augmedix Bangladesh Head of Country Rashed Mujib Norman presented a keynote paper on “Skills for the 21st Century” at a recent seminar on post-COVID-19 skills for the information and communications technology industry.

At the seminar, State Minister for Information and Communication Technology Zunaid Ahmed Palak said there is no alternative to educating people to be skilled users of frontier technologies to reap the benefits of what is known in Bangladesh as the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR).

Because of this, the government of Bangladesh has partnered with online education platform Coursera to provide Bangladeshis with free access to these courses in order to further their education. Under the program, the government will create 5,000 skilled workers through providing 4,000 Coursera training courses for free to face the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Augmedix has had a presence in Bangladesh for several years, where it has hired and trained remote scribes to work with doctors in the U.S. to create medical note documentation. In 2018, the company announced its goal to create more than 2,000 middle-income jobs in Bangladesh.

“The coronavirus pandemic is speeding the change exponentially and compelling us to the use of frontier technologies to sustain in the age of the Fourth Industrial Revolution,” Palak said. He added that Bangladesh is preparing to build skilled workers in the frontier technologies field, in order to lead in the Fourth Industrial Revolution and announced that it is establishing the Sheikh Hasina Institute for Frontier Technologies (SHIFT).

Palak urged IT professionals and educated youngsters to be skilled in frontier technologies and take advantage of the free Coursera courses to build their skills.

Augmedix Country Head Mujib Norman emphasized the importance of building skills such as communication, creativity, critical thinking, and collaboration.

BCC Executive Director Parthapratim Deb said those who complete four Coursera courses will get a certificate from the government indicating their achievement.

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