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‘No need to export unskilled manpower’:
IT-BPO skills - Sri Lanka’s largest export earner by 2012?
‘Professionals should fight economic battle’:
RAMANI KANGARAARACHCHI
IT-BPO skills could be Sri Lanka’s largest export earner by 2012
deviating from the export of manpower said President, Sri Lanka
Association of Software and Service (SLASSCOM) Ranjith Fernando.
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Secretary ICASL, Aruna Alwis, Chairman SLASSCOM, Ranjith
Fernando, Minister of Trade and Consumer Affairs, Bandula
Gunawardena, President Prof. ICASL, Nishan Fernando,
President/CEO SLITT, Lalith Gamage, Secretary Ministry of Trade
and Consumer Affairs, Lalith R de Silva, Chairman BOC, Gamini
Wickremasinghe, Secretary SLASSCOM, Madu Ratnayake. |
He was speaking at the signing of the tripartite MoU between the
Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka(ICASL, SLASSCOM) and the
Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology(SLITT) at the ICASL
auditorium on Friday.
“We do not have to depend on exporting unskilled manpower any more
because Sri Lanka has moved forward successfully in the financial sector
which offers great opportunities and the challenge is to make use of
them, he said.
There is a large number of students - 40 percent of them with
Ordinary Level qualifications who cannot find employment due to lack of
English and IT knowledge which are essential in the commercial world
today.
Developing the skills of our students in this area is the answer.
That is why the ICASL, SLITT and SLASSCOM entered into a partnership in
supporting the national initiative of the Government to build the skills
of youth across the country to be employed by the IT-BPO industry, he
said.
President, ICASL Nishantha Fernando said that the country’s war
heroes have won the biggest battle but since the professionals could not
go to the battlefront they need to fight the economic battle.
The purpose of the MoU is to promote Accounting, BPO and IT as a
career choice among students and the business community to enhance the
capacity and quality of qualified accountants to serve the BPO industry,
he said.
This will initially be focussed on an urgent step in developing an
intensive program to train youth in the North and East contributing to
the Government’s Development Plan Uthuru Wasanthaya in the war affected
areas.
This partnership is also aimed at developing accreditations relevant
to the IT-BPO industry and the ICASL.
The SLITT has developed a customized course to cater to the needs of
the IT and BPO industry which will be delivered through the ICASL.
President SLITT Prof. Lalith Gamage said that Sri Lanka should
develop human resources and the data could be transferred anywhere by
professionals without ‘exporting’ people. At present, the country’s
export income from IT-BPO is USD 200 million and to increase this amount
the SLITT has doubled the number of students and programs.
Minister of Trade and Consumer Affairs Bandula Gunawardena was the
chief guest on the occasion. |
