a2i to assist Maldives Govt. to build Digital Rural Centres

Last month, a memorandum was signed between Access to Information (a2i) of the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) and National Centre for Information Technology (NCIT) of Maldives government, aiming to build digital Maldives in style of the concept of 'Digital Bangladesh'. Deputy Minister for Home Affairs of Maldives government Ahmed Adim and Project Director of the a2i Kabir Bin Anwar signed the MoU on behalf their respective organizations.  Later, Deputy Minister Ahmed Adim talked with The Daily Star to talk about of his trip and the MoU.

What was your experience in Bangladesh?

I would like to appreciate firstly the Prime Minister of Bangladesh for her vision 2021 of a Digital Bangladesh. We also have plans to make our country digital. Well, I have to say my experience was really delighting. I have been here for only a few days and I got the chance to visit some of the rural digital centres in Bangladesh. There I got to know how common rural people are availing crucial govt. services. I got to learn that more than 50+ services are available currently via these centers which is simply amazing. Talking with the people, I got to know how they are saving their time and money by availing the services in their locality. In addition to that, people running the digital centres are making money by serving their community. Thanks to the minimal charging, more or less everyone can currently afford the services.

The other place that we visited was a Multimedia School. Talking to the students, I got to know how the new approach has improved the students learning ability. The content is now richer; it now comes with pictures or relevant videos. These are some of the experience I am taking with me.

Which one would you be implementing immediate?

One thing that I am going to implement immediately is the attendance system for schools. Whenever a student enters the school, they have to digitally register. So if the student skips school, an SMS will be sent to the parents. This entire system is really impressive and this is something we can implement immediately.

What expertise is the Access to Information (a2i) is lending to the government of Maldives?

Well, the a2i will provide its assistance to the Maldives government to set up digital centres and multimedia classrooms at education institutions, to develop hajj management system, custom clearance process as well as to turn the existing government services into e-services.