A debate competition on “Voice of Freedom” was arranged with the students of Varendra University.
The competition was organised under ‘Foster Responsible Digital Citizenship to Promote Freedom of Expression in Bangladesh Project’ which is funded by the European Union and is jointly being implemented by Dnet and Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom (FNF Bangladesh).
In this debate competition, selected participants from different departments took part and competed in 4 teams consisting a total to 12 debaters.
As spectators, more than 100 teachers and students from different departments were also present. To engage the audience there were attractive rewards that were delivered based on the result of a short quiz competition among the audience.
At the start of the event, the program manager of FRDC program Asif Ahmed Tonmoy said: “The FRDC project is mainly working to enable the young citizens of the country to express their opinions independently and constructively in the digital world by introducing them to the concepts of digital citizenship education. Today's debate competition is also part of that initiative to raise awareness among students.”
The Vice-chancellor of Varendra University, Professor Dr M Osman Gani Talukder stated “The present age is the age of information technology. Earlier knowledge was power but now it is joined with information. And the government of Bangladesh is working towards building a digital Bangladesh with the conviction of creating a society based on information technology. And all students present in today's debate educated in digital citizenship education can effectively contribute to that goal.”
The winners of the competition were: Md Mahfujur Rahman, Md Mahmmudul Hasan and Md Solaiman Shakil. Md Sathil Siraj and Md Maruf Islam played the role of judges in the debate competition.
Co-founder and Executive Director of Dnet gave his closing remarks to conclude the competition. He said: “All the contestants and all those who participated in today's competition are the real winners. Because they witnessed a lively debate competition that would initiate positive efforts for social change in our society.”
Apart from the field-level activities of FRDC project, there is a free online educational website https://www.digitalcitizenbd.com/. In this website, one can find many informative and helpful resources for youths through which youths can learn about participating in constructive discussion online and can critically evaluate social and political aspects of a society.
This website will equip youths to surf in the digital world responsibly and bring about positive behavioral change to become a proud digital citizens of this country.
