Bangladesh will make digital accessibility a core requirement in all new government digital services to ensure inclusive use for people of all abilities, ICT Division Secretary Shish Haydar Chowdhury said on Tuesday.
Speaking as chief guest at a seminar titled “Innovation to Inclusion in the Digital Age”—organised by the Aspire to Innovate (a2i) Programme and UNDP Bangladesh at the BIDA Auditorium in Agargaon—he said accessibility must be built into platforms from the design stage, not added later.
The event underscored the urgent need for a time-bound national action plan to make Bangladesh’s rapidly expanding digital ecosystem fully accessible for persons with disabilities.
In his speech as special guest, Md. Saidur Rahman Khan, Director General of the Department of Social Services, said accessibility is closely tied to dignity and respect, noting that people who cannot complete even basic online tasks due to design barriers often feel excluded from daily civic life.
Delivering the closing remarks, a2i Project Director (Joint Secretary) Md. Abdur Rafiq said no single organisation can close the digital divide alone. Effective solutions emerge only when policymakers, technologists, and disability rights advocates work collaboratively.
A policy proposal presented at the seminar outlined a phased five-year roadmap.
Recommendations for the first year include:
Affordable internet packages for persons with disabilities
Accessibility audits for all government digital platforms
Full enforcement of existing design guidelines
Strengthened training on digital safety and rights, especially for women and youth with disabilities
Specialised training for developers and service providers, and the establishment of Digital Skills Training Hubs
For the second and third years, the roadmap proposes remote identity verification for government allowances and subsidies, creation of a user-friendly National Disability Helpline, improved accessibility in digital banking and financial services, wider adoption of assistive technologies, and strengthened support for local tech innovation.
For the third to fifth years, recommendations include enacting an international-standard Digital Accessibility Act, forming a Web Accessibility Monitoring Authority under the ICT Division, ensuring full accessibility across key platforms such as Muktopaath and NISE, and making all government information—including emergency alerts—accessible to people with all types of disabilities.
At the event, a2i and UNDP Bangladesh jointly presented a new research and policy brief titled “Bridging Digital Inequality: Enhancing Accessibility for Persons with Disabilities in Bangladesh’s Digital Ecosystem.”
The study, presented by Bhaskar Bhattacharya, highlighted that while Bangladesh has launched more than 1,000 e-services and integrated around 33,000 government websites under a unified platform, many persons with disabilities still face significant obstacles when trying to access these services.
Representatives from the ICT Division, a2i, Bangladesh Computer Council, Department of Social Services, UN agencies, development partners, mobile operators, banks, digital payment companies, online learning platforms, civil society, digital accessibility experts, and disability rights organisations attended the seminar.