The New Nation - Internet Edition

Sheikh Arif Bulbon

The Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector in the country is not growing up to the mark, said experts.

According to finding in a survey conducted by Jobs IRIS Bangladesh, the ICT sector has grown approximately 22 per cent in the past two years, while the mobile phone sector alone has witnessed 180 per cent growth for the last one year.

The poor growth in ICT re-emphasises the continued necessity of a highly skilled human resource pool in the ICT sector in the country. Skilled human resources are currently in high demand and short supply. ICT graduates are not gaining the skills required by the private sector. Due to rapid growth and changing nature of the sector, this disparity will increase in the future.

AKM Azad, an ICT expert and Managing Director of Bhuiyan Institute of Technology (BIT), said, "There is a great gap between academic and professional sector. The ICT topics taught widely do not always align with the needs and priorities of private sector. Students learn the requisite theoretical and technical skills but not how and where to apply them.

Career counselling and formal contact with the private sector is either non-existent or too general to be of any benefit to ICT students.

Education in the ICT field is seen as formal and theoretical and as a result it does not convey the private sector."

ICT business in the country is also suffering in the export market as it lacks sufficient human resources.

In October 2002, the Government issued its national ICT policy, which affirmed the importance of the sector and referred to the Prime Minister's designation of ICT as a thrust sector.

"If Bangladesh is to join the ICT revolution, a highly skilled and internationally recognised workforce is the first requirement. Without this, no amount of investment in economic growth activities will have a substantive impact in this country with a population of 150 million where more than half of which is under the age of thirty and a population density of 900 people per square kilometre," said AKM Azad.

ICT directors in all sectors believe that there is a shortage of ICT skills. They stressed on given the local obstacle to the traditional industrial development at a level capable of sustaining such a large population, a focus on the development of a skilled, ICT workforce would allow Bangladesh, both at home and abroad, to literally store on one of its most under utilised resources for its huge population.

Therefore, there are much more benefits of ICT in the country. The use of ICT can enhance production through the easy transfer of new technologies and techniques. It can also help to expand markets by facilitating more targeted end-user research and product development. E-governance can reduce the costs of doing business for private sector actors and enhance confidence among global clients. These are just a few examples of how an enhanced ICT sectors in the country can contribute towards growth in all sectors and positively affect income at all levels.

ICT experts opined that when export firms receive increased and more consistent orders through the benefits of ICT, village worker's income also becomes more secure.

IT education in the country appears to be flourishing, yet the private sector still reports difficulty in identifying qualified employees and lack of ICT personnel hinders the overall progress of e-Governance initiatives. At the same time ICT students are graduating and unable to find employment.

At present, there are over 40 universities and 60 colleges offering ICT courses at the Bachelors and Masters levels in the country. Ten of the 40 universities were surveyed, comprising 25 per cent of the total university population. Sixty percent of the respondents were located in the Dhaka Metropolitan Area, reflecting the fact that the majority of higher educational institutions are situated there.