Bangladesh Bank has revised its list of officials selected for the University of Dhaka's Applied AI course, adding four female officials after a The Business Standard report highlighted the absence of women from the original 30-member list.

On 15 July, The Business Standard published a report titled, "BB selects 30 officials for DU AI course, excludes women over 'safety' reasons." The central bank later reviewed its decision and included four female officials in the programme.

The newly added female participants are, Additional Directors Afsana Rahman and Nazia Haque. Deputy Directors Shamima Afroz and Sharmin Akter were also added to the list.

Speaking to reporters this morning (18 July), Bangladesh Bank Assistant Spokesperson Shahriar Siddique said the initial list had been prepared by selecting the most senior applicants from each department.

"Initially, the final list of participants was prepared by selecting applicants from each department on the basis of seniority. In the process, no female officials were included in the final list unintentionally," he added.

He also said the decision was later reviewed.

"Following the review, four male officials voluntarily withdrew their nominations. Keeping the total number of participants unchanged at 30, four female officials were included in their place, taking into account that women made up around 14% of the applicants," he said.

According to Bangladesh Bank, 65 of the 473 officials who applied for the course were women.

The original list, published on 13 July, included only male officials. Several female officials who had applied for the Applied AI course told The Business Standard they were disappointed by the selection.

A senior Bangladesh Bank official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Business Standard that although the Human Resources Department selected the participants, the all-male list had drawn criticism within the central bank.