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Connecting people to the internet is only the first step towards digital inclusion, says Sagarika Wickramasekera, a Sri Lankan network engineer and member of the Internet Society Board of Trustees. Affordable access, digital skills, accessible services, and participation in decision-making are equally important.
Wickramasekera, an assistant network manager at the University of Colombo, has more than two decades of experience in networking, IT, and digital inclusion. She is president of the Asia Pacific School of Internet Governance (APSIG), a former president of the Internet Society Sri Lanka Chapter, and a founding member of the Lanka School of Internet Governance and Lanka Network Operators Group. She also serves on the executive committee of the Asia Pacific Next Generation Group (APNG).
In an interview with The Daily Star, she discusses what Bangladesh can learn from Sri Lanka, the challenges of bridging the digital divide, women's participation in technology, digital accessibility, and the need to balance AI innovation with digital rights and cybersecurity.
The Daily Star: What can Bangladesh learn from Sri Lanka and other Asia-Pacific countries about building a more inclusive digital society?
Sagarika Wickramasekera: One of the most important lessons is that digital inclusion cannot be achieved through infrastructure alone. Having spent much of my career building and managing networks, I understand the importance of connectivity. But simply connecting people to the internet does not necessarily mean they are digitally included.
During my time with the Internet Society Sri Lanka Chapter, we worked with communities with varying levels of internet access and digital literacy. Through initiatives such as Beyond the Reach, we helped people with visual impairments use the internet and digital technologies. I also contributed to ICT training for people with disabilities, including military personnel with disabilities.
These experiences taught me that digital inclusion is about enabling people to use technology meaningfully, independently, and with dignity.
Bangladesh can build on its achievements by putting communities at the centre of digital development. Bangladesh and Sri Lanka have much to learn from each other, particularly in rural connectivity, affordability, women's participation, and accessibility.
The lesson is simple: building networks must go hand in hand with developing people's capacity to use them.
The Daily Star: What should Bangladesh prioritise to close its digital divide, particularly for women, people with disabilities, and rural communities?
Sagarika Wickramasekera: I would prioritise four areas: affordable connectivity, digital skills, accessibility, and meaningful participation.
Connectivity can transform education, employment, and access to information. But if internet services are expensive, suitable devices are unavailable, or digital platforms are inaccessible, connectivity alone cannot bridge the digital divide.
For rural communities, Bangladesh needs affordable, reliable last-mile connectivity supported by community-based digital literacy programmes.
For women, we must move beyond basic computer training and create pathways into advanced fields such as network engineering, cybersecurity, cloud computing, and AI.
For people with disabilities, accessibility must be built into digital services from the outset. Government platforms, education systems, and financial services should follow recognised accessibility standards and be tested with people with disabilities.
My experience with Beyond the Reach reinforced an important principle: digital inclusion programmes should be developed with the communities they aim to serve, not simply for them. Their experiences and needs must shape the technologies and policies intended to benefit them.
The Daily Star: In your view, what should be the Internet Society's main priorities in the Asia-Pacific region over the coming years?
Sagarika Wickramasekera: The overarching priority should be to maintain an open, globally connected, secure, and trustworthy internet that works for everyone.
I see four key priorities for the region.
The first is meaningful connectivity. We need to look beyond the number of people connected and examine whether they have affordable, reliable, and useful internet access.
The second is internet resilience and security. As a network engineer, I know that an open internet depends on robust infrastructure, strong operational security, and resilient networks.
The third is digital inclusion. Women, people with disabilities, rural communities, and other underrepresented groups need more than access to technology. They must also have a meaningful voice in shaping the internet.
The fourth is strengthening internet governance capacity in developing countries. Through my involvement with APSIG, APNG, the Lanka School of Internet Governance, and other initiatives, I have seen how developing local expertise and leadership enables countries to participate more effectively in global internet policy discussions.
The Internet Society's mission goes beyond connecting networks. It is about ensuring that the internet continues to serve people and communities.
The Daily Star: How can Asia-Pacific countries balance AI innovation with digital rights, cybersecurity, and an open internet?
Sagarika Wickramasekera: AI innovation and digital rights should not be seen as competing priorities. The goal should be responsible innovation that protects people while enabling technological progress.
AI offers significant opportunities for developing countries in education, healthcare, agriculture, public administration, and economic development. However, without adequate safeguards for privacy, cybersecurity, bias, accessibility, and accountability, it could deepen existing inequalities and create new forms of digital exclusion.
My background in networking has taught me the importance of security by design. The same principle should apply to AI. Security, privacy, and human rights must be considered from the outset, rather than addressed only after a system has been deployed.
At the same time, policymakers should avoid unnecessary restrictions that could fragment the internet, weaken open standards, or undermine encryption.
Asia-Pacific countries should strengthen cooperation on responsible AI, cybersecurity, data protection, and digital rights. Developing countries must also have a meaningful voice in shaping the rules governing these technologies.
Ultimately, innovation should strengthen an open, secure, inclusive, and trustworthy internet, rather than create new barriers to participation.
The Daily Star: Why do women remain underrepresented in technology, and what can Bangladesh do to change this?
Sagarika Wickramasekera: This issue is particularly close to my own experience. When I entered the networking profession, very few women worked in technical networking roles in Sri Lanka. I was among a small number of female network engineers at the time.
That experience showed me that women can succeed in highly technical careers, but the environment does not always encourage them to enter, remain, or advance in these fields.
The barriers often begin early, when girls receive less encouragement to pursue engineering and technology. Even women with technical qualifications may face workplace stereotypes, limited mentoring, unequal opportunities, and obstacles to career advancement.
Bangladesh needs to build a clear pathway from education and technical training to internships, employment, mentoring, and leadership.
I would particularly encourage investment in women's participation in advanced fields such as network engineering, cybersecurity, cloud computing, and AI, rather than limiting digital skills programmes to basic ICT training.
My experience organising women's internet governance initiatives, including Sri Lanka's first Women's Internet Governance Forum in 2017, reinforced an important lesson: women need more than training and employment opportunities. They must also have a seat at the table where decisions about technology are made.
The Daily Star: What practical steps can Bangladesh take to make digital services more accessible to people with disabilities?
Sagarika Wickramasekera: Accessibility should be a requirement, not an afterthought.
I have worked directly with people with disabilities through digital literacy and internet governance programmes, including an APSIG accessibility initiative in Dhaka that brought together participants from Bangladesh and other Asia-Pacific countries.
These experiences demonstrated why people with disabilities must be involved in developing digital solutions.
Bangladesh can take several practical steps. Accessibility should be mandatory in government digital procurement, while websites and applications should comply with recognised accessibility standards.
Digital services should work with screen readers and other assistive technologies. They should provide captions, transcripts, alternative text, and accessible documents. They must also support keyboards and alternative input devices, with information available in Bengali and other appropriate formats.
Developers and government officials need accessibility training. But equally important is involving people with disabilities in designing and testing these services.
I strongly believe in the principle, "Nothing about us without us." People with disabilities should not simply be beneficiaries of digital policies; they should help shape them.
APSIG's accessibility work has also reinforced the importance of digital literacy, advocacy, and capacity-building in helping people with disabilities gain a stronger voice in internet governance.
The Daily Star: How can Bangladesh strengthen its voice and participation in regional and global internet governance?
Sagarika Wickramasekera: Bangladesh already has skilled technical professionals and an active internet community. The next step is to translate that expertise into sustained participation and leadership in regional and global internet governance.
My own journey has taught me that internet governance extends far beyond technology. I began my career in technical networking, but my involvement in internet governance helped me understand how decisions about networks, data, privacy, security, and access are closely linked to public policy and human rights.
Bangladesh should invest in developing young internet governance leaders, particularly women, people with disabilities, and those from outside Dhaka. A more diverse leadership base would help ensure that different perspectives are represented in policy discussions.
The country should also strengthen its national internet governance dialogue and encourage experts to participate consistently in regional and global forums, not merely as attendees, but as researchers, speakers, working-group contributors, and leaders.
Through APSIG, I have seen the value of bringing together people from different countries and stakeholder groups.
The accessibility workshop in Dhaka demonstrated Bangladesh's potential to contribute to regional capacity-building and help create a more inclusive internet governance environment.
The Daily Star: What role can Bangladesh and Sri Lanka play together in shaping a more open, secure, and inclusive internet across the Asia-Pacific region?
Sagarika Wickramasekera: Bangladesh and Sri Lanka can achieve more by working together towards a more open, secure, and inclusive internet.
Both countries face similar challenges in expanding digital infrastructure while addressing affordability, inclusion, cybersecurity, and digital rights. This creates opportunities to exchange practical experiences and develop solutions suited to their needs, rather than simply adopting policies developed elsewhere.
Sri Lanka can share its experience in technical networking, internet governance, accessibility, and women's participation. Bangladesh, meanwhile, can contribute its experience in large-scale digital transformation, expanding connectivity, and its growing technology community.
The two countries could also collaborate on initiatives promoting women in network engineering, cybersecurity, accessibility, AI literacy, and internet governance leadership.
South Asian cooperation should go beyond inviting underrepresented groups to conferences. It should create genuine opportunities for them to become network engineers, cybersecurity professionals, policymakers, and internet governance leaders.
Ultimately, the internet is a shared resource. Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and other Asia-Pacific countries can work together to keep it open, secure, resilient, accessible, and inclusive.
My journey from network engineering to internet governance has taught me that technology, policy, and people cannot be separated.
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