Experts call for regulatory body to streamline IT education
KARACHI- Experts of computer and information technology (IT) education stressed constitution of a regulatory body to monitor, streamline, and regulate the computer education specially being imparted in private-sector institutes.
They were expressing their views at a seminar on ‘Future of computer training in Pakistan organized for journalists by the Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF).
The speakers said the people in Pakistan were willing to spend any Amount disproportionate to their income to get their children acquainted with computer skills.
They said the computer institutes, specially those working in the private sector to grant certain computer related certifications, were lacking well qualified and professional faculty.
They said the public sector universities and well-established computer institutes should start short refresher courses for trainers in these private-sector institutes.
They said the computer education as other fields of education could be classified into different stages and the primary stage of computer education is fully imparted by these private computers. Institutes, however, they said the curriculum of these institutes should be streamlined and upgraded on regular basis by a central regulatory body. They also called for a centralized testing authority to assess the capability of students of these institutes.
The experts said that money earning was vital for the sustainability of these institutes but emphasised that they should not run only for profits.
They appreciated the IT policy of the present government that underlined the retraining of computer teachers, human resources and infrastructure development of these institutes. They also appreciated that the government according to this policy was ready to subsidize the expenditure of these institutes in this regard up to 75 per cent.
About the employment problem of computer professionals, they said majority of students studying at these institutes were only interested in getting certifications in order to qualify for all the immigration requirements for western countries specially America so as to get a job and settle there permanently.
They also called for setting up an IT department in every government ministry in order to recruit maximum IT experts. “Even in Karachi there are only 20 software houses capable of employing not more than 200 software engineers,” said one of the speakers.
The experts: also underscored the need of better communication skills for computer experts as they always work with a team of similar experts, They also called to introduce business communication as compulsory subject in all let institutes.
They said proficiency in English language is also necessary for the IT students, as a programmer or software expert proficient in English language easily gets a job anywhere in the ‘world.
They also suggested that the software produced for the local market should be developed in Urdu or even in regional languages. The speakers said the IT experts from India were mostly from its southern part not having an accurate accent of English language, so their Pakistani counterparts could have an edge over them by developing a clear accent of the language.
They lamented the situation that the institutes belonging to international chains and franchises were well equipped but too expensive so becoming inaccessible for students from the middle class.
Those who spoke on the occasion included Dr Ejaz from Institute of Business Administration, man of Skill Development Council, Ahsan Ullah Khan and District Officer for Karachi Colleges, Mujeeb Feroz.
Source: The News
Date:8/23/2001
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