Projects to upgrade English and IT skills

by P. Krishnaswamy

The Presidential Task Force on English and IT will now implement far-reaching programs to improve English knowledge and IT skills of our educated youths, said Dr. Sarath Amunugama, Minister of Enterprise Development and Investment Promotion.

The task force of which he is the chairman will also be responsible for the launch of the Year of IT and English in 2009 under President Mahinda Rajapaksa, he said at a media briefing last Friday to elaborate the functions, objectives and vision of the task force.

The BOI would be able to offer 10,000 jobs in the IT sector in the immediate future and the actual target of the task force is the training of 50,000 in English and IT education. "Firstly we will be able to give jobs secondly we will go for science and technology in the country". "We cannot have a modern society unless we have a science and technology based society," he said.

A highly sophisticated IT park in an area of 02 ml.sq.feet, with all modern facilities, will be established soon with Indian collaboration. In the context of the fact that it will be difficult to achieve high skills in IT without adequate English knowledge, the expertise and assistance of the prestigious English and Foreign Languages Institute in Hyderabad will be obtained to teach English through practical and effective new methods, the Minister said.

Presidential Advisor Sunimal Fernando and Executive Director (Investment Promotion) of the BOI Duminda Ariyasinghe who are among the 23 members of the task force and BOI chairman Dhammika Perera were also present at the media briefing.

Members of the task force are very eminent personalities representing the government and private sectors as well as academics who have worked relentlessly to formulate and introduce programmes to improve IT and English skills of the youth to make them competent and gainfully employable, the Minister said. The two sub-sectors under the task force are coordinated by Sunimal Fernando, Advisor to the President (English) and Ranjith Fernando, Project Leader, Information and Communication Technology Agency (IT).

The overall objective of the formation of the task force is to resolve issues related to the thrust skill sector of Information Technology and English education specially targeting the advanced and ordinary level qualified students, who have not been able to enter university, to be employed in the IT/BPO sector.

The Minister further pointed out that although the BOI would be able to offer not less than 10,000 well-paid jobs immediately in the IT sector,' with all maximum efforts under the sun not more than 2000 youths of that calibre could be found, despite the 1000 IT graduates being produced by the SLIIT. The gap is very clear and foreign business entrepreneurs and outsourcing people would not want to come here unless we can produce the required number of employable youths.

He further said:

" Of the average 250,000 students who sit for the GCE (AL) exam, at least 130,000 formally qualify for university admission but only 17,000 get admission due to limitations on availability of seats. Another 10,000 students go abroad for pursuing their university education. About 110,000 youths need jobs. This is the target group which we are trying to address and retrain on a priority basis.

"The state education sector, which is the formal sector, and all recognised private educational institutions, which constitute the informal sector, will work in coordination under five sub-committees for addressing English and IT education.

"Studies have revealed that the Indian method of teaching English has been very effective and the three South Indian states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh have been very successful in imparting standard English knowledge within a span of seven to eight years. So we are seeking their expertise on teaching 'functional English or communicative and focal English'.