Focused on expanding accessibility, the team took their drone workshop to remote girls-only schools.
June 27th, 2025
From the beginning of 2025, Bangladesh Flying Labs planned to work differently from previous years.
In the past, we hosted several workshops and talks at our office and several venues across Dhaka. Typically, we would announce the events, participants would register, and then attend the sessions.
This year, we decided to expand our reach: while continuing with our regular events, we also committed to traveling to different regions across the country, organizing hands-on sessions, and collaborating with local organizations.
This approach of reaching participants in their own locations is a new initiative for us. To begin this journey, we selected six schools from Bagerhat, Shatkhira, and Khulna—three coastal districts of Bangladesh. These schools are all girls-only and located in remote areas. Four out of the six schools lack direct road connectivity to the mainland. Our partner, Bangladesh Open Source Network (BdOSN), already conducts basic STEM training in these institutions, laying a strong foundation for our initiative.
The students in these schools are familiar with Scratch programming and have basic knowledge of robotics and Python. With this in mind, we designed a drone workshop where we introduced drone programming using the Scratch programming language. We used DJI Tello drones for the sessions.
In the first few classes, students learned the fundamentals of drone technology and how to write programs to control the drones. As the workshops progressed, we gradually transitioned to using Python for more advanced drone control.
Each school had an average of 100 participants, with students from Classes 6 to 10 taking part in the workshops. We conducted multiple sessions tailored to different class levels, ensuring hands-on learning for all.
The students responded with great enthusiasm—many were experiencing drone technology for the first time. Watching their own code make a drone take flight was a moment of pure excitement for them. Several participants shared that they never imagined they could control drones just by writing simple programs. Their enthusiasm, curiosity, and rapid learning deeply inspired our entire team.
This experience reaffirmed our belief in the power of access and exposure to technology. It was a window into new possibilities. Moving forward, we are committed to continuing these sessions in the current schools and expanding to other underprivileged and remote areas across Bangladesh. By nurturing curiosity and building technical skills in young minds, especially girls in underrepresented communities, we hope to spark long-term interest in STEM fields and empower the next generation of innovators.
