Bangladeshi gets UNESCO/Emir Al Ahmad al Jaber Prize for people with disabilities

Vashkar Bhattacharjee, a visually impaired Bangladeshi national, has been awarded the UNESCO/Emir Jaber al Ahmad al Jaber al Sabah Prize for Digital Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities in Paris.

This is the first time ever a Bangladeshi has received this prestigious award, the Bangladesh Embassy said in a statement.

Sheikh Mubarak Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, the representative of the Kuwaiti government, handed over the prize to him at a ceremony organised in observance of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities at the UNESCO Headquarters on Monday.

Saima Wazed Hossain, Chairperson of National Advisory Committee on Autism and a Member of WHO Expert Advisory Panel on Mental Health, attended the awards ceremony. She was also a member of the international jury board of the award.

The prize created in 2002 and supported by Kuwait is given in individual and organisational categories every two years in recognition of the winners’ contribution to the promotion of quality education and to raising awareness about the right to education of people with disabilities.

The award carries a monetary prize of $20,000 and was given to Vashkar in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the empowerment of people with disabilities through the application of ICT to access information and knowledge.

Vashkar is credited with successfully developing Bangladesh’s first Accessible Dictionary in four forms for people with visual, print and learning disabilities.

He is currently working for Young Power in Social Action, a registered NGO based in Chattaogram.

He has also served as a national consultant to Accessibility to Information (a2i) Program of the government of Bangladesh.

In 2016, Vashkar received a national award from Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for his contribution to digital technology for people with disability.

He had thanked Hasina saying that "she has given us a dream of Digital Bangladesh and we are now transforming it into reality and making inclusive and barrier-free ICT environment for the people with disability”.