The country's second-largest mobile operator Robi will offer a low-cost internet data package for university teachers and students to support online education.

University Grants Commission (UGC) and Robi Axiata Limited signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) regarding this yesterday.

UGC Chairman Professor Kazi Shahidullah said the main barrier to online education is access to devices and mobile data, which will be resolved soon with the joint efforts of UGC and the mobile operators.

The new agreement will allow users to get 30GB of data at Tk 220 for a month for Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Google Classroom, and Gmail.

But this data package will not apply to the use of Netflix, Youtube, Facebook, and Twitter, read a press release.

Mobile operators Teletalk and Grameenphone are providing a cheap data package for university teachers and students as well. UGC signed an MoU with Grameenphone on Thursday.

On November 4, UGC also decided to provide interest-free loans to 41,501 insolvent students of public universities for buying smartphones to ensure their participation in online classes amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

Each student from 39 public universities will get a maximum of Tk 8,000 as a soft loan.