Saturday, October 12, 2013

International Day for Girl Child - October 8, 2013

It was refreshing to read, among many articles and news report, how everyday should be a girl's day, efforts to bust child marriage in Bangladesh. Not to mention the gem, Malala Yousefzai, and her nomination for Nobel Peace Prize. To top it all off, this morning's headline on Violence Against Women's Act becoming a partisan issue. All this is happening while I struggle to write my doctoral comprehensive paper on the application of relevant theory and research to real life situations. The paper requires considering social, cultural, and ethical issues (where appropriate). Are you kidding me? My research is on training female educators on the use of web and mobile technologies to teach poor and marginalized adolescent girls in Bangladesh. I have been working on this research paper for couple of years and the time for fruition is here and now. Also, the UN has declared this year's theme as innovating for the education of girls with focus on technology and creative thinking to further 'propel girls' education.'

The basis of my research is to prove that training female teachers and administrators to use web and mobile technologies in teaching and learning along with English proficiency training can be a powerful solution for quality and relevant education. If implemented efficiently, this could truly empower the adolescent girls in hard-to-reach areas of Bangladesh. The education of adolescent girls in Bangladesh must be pursued with the right combination of technology, practicality and cultural sensitivity to achieve, among other objectives, Millennial Development Goal (MDG), 2015. Current learning trends indicate that technology has transformed educational opportunities for learners of all ages and genders, and from all over the world. Research shows that web and mobile technologies’ ubiquitous access to information, social networks, and tools for learning and productivity can revolutionize education (Educause, 2010). Mobile devices continue to evolve due to the increased access to affordable and reliable networks. Because of low-cost handsets and easy availably, mobile phones are increasing rapidly globally (especially in the developing countries of Asia). The number of mobile phone subscribers in Bangladesh jumped from 26,000 in 1997 to 98.593 million at the end of February 2013 (Bangladesh Telecommunication Regularity Commission, 2013).


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