The ICT (Information and Communication Technology) education curriculum of the country needs to be aligned with the industry demands due to the dynamic nature prevailing in the industry where new trends and advancements of technology should be immediately integrated to the education system.
“Presently this integration is happening very slowly and that’s the reason for creating a big mismatch between the skills demand and supply of the industry,” Chairman, ICT Industry Skill Council (ICTISC), Chinthaka Wijewickrama told the Daily News Finance.
ICT has become an integral component in all sectors and the global ICT industry. There are infinite opportunities for Sri Lanka in the global market. However, it is very dynamic because today’s cutting-edge technology can be outdated tomorrow. So, the workforce should be up to date with the world trends. IT industry is a futuristic and a knowledge based industry thus predictions cannot be made on whether enough skills are there at any given time.
Skills requirements of the industry have two main categories: technical skills and soft skills. Most demanding technical skills are Software Engineering, Programming, Systems Analysis, Business Analysis, Systems designs etc.
The new skills requested by the ICT firms besides these technical skills are often qualities of personal nature. Factors like attitudes, the world-view, and personal communication skills are more important than before when firms are recruiting new staff.
He also said that the new needs are reflecting not only the changes taking place inside the ICT industry, but also the relationship between the ICT and other sectors. The mastery of ICT and its integration into thinking and business model has become necessity in sectors like banking where ICT has entered into the core of these businesses.
In order to bridge the gap between the education curriculum of the country and the industry requirements, ICTISC is going to launch many initiatives and requests are already been made to the relevant education authorities. “We are acting as advisors to the Vocational Education system in Sri Lanka to guide them on required changes to the curriculum,” he said.
Some of the initiatives that are going to be launched are wrapping programs to uplift students’ knowledge on relevant technologies, plug-in programs to upscale students’ technical knowledge on latest technologies, conversion programs to make them employable, and bridging programs to bridge the gaps in demand and supply.
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