Skilled human resources are essential for facilitating economic growth in the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector, said Policy Research Institute of Bangladesh (PRI) Executive Director Dr Ahsan H Mansur.
He pointed out that many people work in the ICT sector, but not many of them are very skilled.
Dr Mansur made the remarks at a round table event titled “Importance of ICT for Economic Growth in Bangladesh,” jointly organised by the Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS) and Policy Research Institute (PRI) in Dhaka on Tuesday.
Industry stakeholders were present at the programme.
In response to a question, Dr Mansur said, “There is a significant gap in digital literacy across the population, which hampers the effective utilisation of ICT tools and services. We are getting graduates, but not all are BUET or IBA quality graduates.
“There should be a survey to find out why this is happening. This is where BASIS can play a crucial role.”
During a keynote presentation, Dr Mansur said, “The ICT sector is improving education and skill development through e-learning platforms and specialised training programmes, addressing the skills gap, and preparing a future-ready workforce.
“It is also transforming agriculture and rural development by introducing smart farming techniques and enhancing connectivity in rural areas. The ICT enhances government service provisions and transparency through e-governance platforms, and promotes financial inclusion by expanding access to mobile banking and digital financial services.”
He then pointed out, “The ICT Sector has already generated 0.3 million jobs within the country, which is expected to reach 0.5 million by 2025.
“Bangladesh's local ICT market is equivalent to $2 billion, combined with the export market presence, our homegrown ICT Sector is contributing 1.25 per cent to the GDP performing almost 100 per cent value addition domestically.”
Mentioning the huge opportunities for freelancing, Dr Mansur said, “With over 650,000 ICT freelancers, Bangladesh is the 4th fastest-growing freelancing country globally, reflecting its rising presence in the freelance market (ICT Division, Payoneer Global Freelancer Survey, 2021).
“Among these freelancers, 22 per cent specialise in Software development and technology, about 40 per cent in sales and marketing support, 25 per cent in creative multimedia, 7 per cent in clerical and Data entry, 3 per cent in writing and translation, and 2 per cent in professional services.”
GitHub has positioned Bangladesh at the forefront of global Software development growth, with the country experiencing the highest year-over-year increase in developer accounts.
Despite these gains, Bangladesh can realise huge unmet potential if the country could increase the number of IT educated skilled manpower under some kind of crash programme, by strengthening or restructuring the education system, Dr Mansur said.
Although the IT sector plays an important role in education, agriculture, health, industry, banks, and many other key sectors, there are some challenges.
Tax burdens, high cost of operation, limited access to finance, insufficient cash incentive, government procurement policies, gender inequality, regulatory barriers, cyber security concerns, deficits in digital literacy, and deficits in infrastructure are some of the major hurdles faced by the industry.
BASIS President Russell T Ahmed said, “Various industries are asking for duty or VAT benefits on their raw materials and the government is considering.
“But our raw material is our human resource. Here they are not getting duty or VAT free, rather they are paying tax on this human resource. Besides, why do I have to pay 27.5 per cent tax or VAT in training these human resources?”
“If we could waive this tax, many training centers would come up and we could use this money to create new manpower and expand businesses,” he stated.
