Bridging Tides with Tech: Char Kids Dreaming Big with Coding

In the heart of Bangladesh's char regions, poverty and disaster often sweep away children's dreams.

Isolated char communities in Gaibandha, Kurigram, Chilmari, and Rowmari face continuous challenges as annual floods submerge homes and schools, while the absence of infrastructure leaves educational aspirations adrift.​
While urban centres grapple with integrating coding into curricula, remote rural areas have long been excluded from such advancements. A 2023 World Economic Forum report highlighted that only 24% of Bangladeshi students possess basic digital literacy skills, contrasting with 78% in Singapore and Estonia. This digital divide threatens to widen existing inequalities, leaving rural youth in such remote areas ill-equipped for the demands of the modern workforce.​

Dreamers Academy by LEAD is shaping the next generation of nation builders by empowering children aged 7 to 16 with essential coding skills, ensuring they stay on par with their peers in developed nations. While the initiative initially focused on urban communities and the Bengali diaspora in Western countries, Dreamers Academy is now achieving what was once thought impossible—bringing quality tech education to the doorsteps of children who were long excluded from such opportunities, particularly girls.
Sharif Ahmed, one of the co-founders of Dreamers Academy, noted, "Many times, you'll find the future of Bangladesh not in the city classrooms but in the barefooted child on a char, writing their first line of code as floodwaters rise. When you teach a child in the margins to code, you teach them to fight poverty, displacement, and erasure."

In February 2025, Dreamers Academy and Friendship NGO launched the transformative "Coding for Char Children" program, marking a bold step toward digital inclusion for children in some of Bangladesh's most remote and climate-affected regions.
Brig Gen Ilyas Iftekhar Rasul, NDC, psc (Retd), Senior Director and Head of Education, Friendship, said: "This project is providing our secondary school students at the remote chars of Gaibandha and Kurigram access to coding, which was not even in their dream a few years back. This unique initiative will help reduce the digital divide, generate interest in advanced technology and facilitate a better future for the students of disadvantaged communities. I thank the Dreamers Academy for implementing this project."

Through this initiative, 44 boys and girls from the isolated chars have begun their journey into the world of technology. What makes this initiative truly impactful is its focus on communities most vulnerable to climate change and systemic barriers to education, especially girls, who often face early dropouts due to social and economic pressures. Today, 21 girls from 16 Friendship secondary schools are actively participating, learning coding, programming, automation, and building the confidence to reimagine what's possible for their futures.

The vision is bold and one-of-a-kind: to prepare these underprivileged children for the digital workforce and ensure that their potential for income generation remains uninterrupted even in the face of climate-induced disruptions.
Beyond individual empowerment, Dreamers Academy also aims to create a generation capable of uplifting their communities, contributing to education, infrastructure, and long-term development in these remote regions. This is empowerment at the grassroots level, designed to create ripple effects that resonate far beyond the individual, shaping stronger, more resilient communities for the future.

According to a government study, it is projected that 47% of jobs in Bangladesh may be at risk by 2041 due to automation and the Fourth Industrial Revolution. However, the same technological advancements can potentially create approximately 10 million new jobs, provided the workforce is adequately prepared. 

Teaching a child about mobile app development, game development, AI, or robotics enables their ability to think freely, critically, and creatively. When a child learns to build, they begin to see problems not as obstacles but opportunities. They imagine, design, and bring solutions to life — often in ways adults never thought possible. This is the idea Dreamers Academy is advancing to prepare the future workforce. 

This initiative's current challenge is proving that the most groundbreaking innovation can begin where electricity is unstable, the internet is a luxury, and school closures are seasonal due to floods. Organisations like Dreamers Academy are crucial in preparing the next generation for these emerging opportunities by equipping students in remote areas with digital skills.