Shikho has launched Think AI, a free Bangla-language course aimed at giving students, teachers, and professionals across Bangladesh a foundational grounding in artificial intelligence. Developed in collaboration with LightCastle Partners and supported by Meta, the course is delivered on Shikho’s learning platform in four lessons covering AI fundamentals, generative tools, responsible use, and practical upskilling pathways. It requires no prior technical background.

The course was unveiled at an event in Dhaka on April 30 that drew more than 60 stakeholders from government, the private sector, and development partners. Two of Bangladesh’s most senior government advisers were present. 

Mahdi Amin, Adviser to the Prime Minister’s Office overseeing education, linked the launch to the government’s broader push to digitise the national curriculum and close the quality gap between urban and rural classrooms. “The finest teachers in Dhaka, the content they get access to, will have the same content in the remote villages,” he said. “For our digital classroom and One Teacher One Tab programmes, AI will play an instrumental role.”

Rehan Asif Asad, Adviser to the Prime Minister’s Office for ICT and Science, framed connectivity as the prerequisite for any AI ambition at national scale. “If I don’t have connectivity, I have nothing. For AI to work, it is absolutely critical to have the data,” he said. “With that infrastructure in place, for the first time, the barrier is almost blurring between Rangpur and Palo Alto.”

For Shikho’s founder and CEO Shahir Chowdhury, the launch is an expression of a larger conviction about what technology can do for a country whose geography has historically constrained its people’s access to opportunity. “For the first time in modern history, geography doesn’t have to dictate destiny,” he said. 

Beth Ann Lim, Meta’s Director of Public Policy Strategy for Asia-Pacific, said the company sees AI literacy as foundational to broad participation in the digital economy. “We’re proud to support Shikho and LightCastle Partners in making quality AI education accessible and locally relevant for learners across Bangladesh,” she said.

The context behind Think AI is straightforward: Bangladesh has a population of roughly 170 million, more than 56 million of whom are under 25. That demographic represents both the scale of the opportunity and the stakes of getting digital skills access right. Shikho has been building for this audience since its founding — the edtech platform previously raised US$8Mn from investors including Wavemaker Partners, Anchorless Bangladesh, and DSG Consumer Partners, and has accumulated over 680,000 registered users across its learning platform. Think AI extends that infrastructure to a new category of need: AI fluency for a generation entering a workforce where such skills are increasingly valued.

Three things set Think AI apart from existing AI education resources available to Bangladeshi learners. First, it is free and accessible with no technical prerequisites — barriers that have historically kept foundational technology education out of reach for a large portion of the population. Second, it is built in Bangla from the ground up, not translated, which means the explanations, examples, and framing are locally relevant rather than culturally generic. Third, it sits on Shikho’s existing infrastructure, giving it immediate distribution reach across a user base that already spans the country. 

Bijon Islam, CEO of LightCastle Partners, who moderated the panel discussion at the launch, described AI as a potential equaliser between Bangladesh and more developed economies. “The difference between someone staying in the US and someone staying in Bangladesh won’t be as big as it was before,” he said. Think AI is designed as a first step — an accessible, no-barrier entry point into a field that, until now, has been largely inaccessible to the majority of Bangladeshis without a technical background or English-language proficiency.