SAIST to organise international conference on education, health and environment

The South Asian Institute of Social Transformation (SAIST) will host its 2nd International Conference on Education, Health, and Environment for Sustainable Development on 13 August to address and raise public awareness about the challenges of achieving sustainable development goals.

The event will take place at Professor Muzaffar Ahmed Chowdhury Auditorium of the Social Science Faculty, University of Dhaka, said a press release.

The event will have Dhaka University Pro Vice-Chancellor Professor Dr A S M Maksud Kamal as the chief guest. Dr Zia Rahman, Dean of Social Sciences Faculty, University of Dhaka and Zahida Fizza Kabir, CEO of SAJIDA Foundation will also be present as the special guests of the event. Representatives from the country and abroad will join the conference both virtually and in person. There are four themes of discussion in the conference.

Professor AQM Shafiul Azam, Director of Planning and Development wing, Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education Bangladesh, will deliver his keynote speech on "Reimagining Secondary Education for the 21^st century Bangladesh", highlighting problems in the education sector of the country and their possible solutions.

Discussions on this theme will include women's education and empowerment, effects of cyber aggression on high school students, recent significant changes in the educational sector of Bangladesh, the cultural and socio-political indicators shaping the access to quality education and so forth, the press release added.

Professor A Mushtaq Chowdhury, former vice-chairperson of BRAC, another keynote speaker of the conference will deliver his speech on "Bangladesh at 50: Population Health and Future Outlook", drawing attention to the current health issues and the key to solving them.

Dr Samiya Selim, associate professor and director of Centre for Sustainable Development, University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh will present her keynote speech on environment and climate change. 

IDRC Canada, Kathmandu University, UChicago Bangladesh, Dhaka University Research Society and Structural Engineers Limited are working as main partners of this conference organized by SAIST.

The very first International Conference of SAIST was organised in December 2016 to envision a common future in South Asia regarding education, health, and the environment. In continuation of this, SAIST will be organising this year's conference to face the post-pandemic challenges regarding the achievement of SDGs.