IT sector growing fast

Locally developed software by all accounts has made a giant stride but it still has a long way to go. Information technology (IT) and software service providers have already reached a stage where their contribution in terms of saving for the country amounts to the tune of over Tk 5.0 billion a year. A 43.53 per cent growth in export, in addition to its increasing use at home, in just one fiscal year (FY), 2012-13, is an indication of the confidence users both at home and abroad are reposing in the country's software developers. This development however excludes the freelancers whose export of IT products has been estimated at around $25 million. Even the trend is equally remarkable for the overall software export during the July-February period of the current FY. Bangladesh has earned US$63.83 million from software export during this period as against $59.55 million in the corresponding period last year.
What is so rejoicing here is that not just in terms of volume but in terms of quality, too, Bangladeshi software developers have become highly competitive globally. No wonder therefore that they are elbowing out their foreign competitors from the country. Leading banks, insurance companies, garments manufacturers, pharmaceutical companies, leather industries etc., have now increasingly been opting for locally developed software and IT-enabled services. This is important because it gives credence to the local software developers' savvy and skill. Local IT experts are no less talented than their foreign counterparts in devising solutions. Then there is the added incentive for giving preference to them on account of cost. They can provide equally high class or even better service at times at one-third the cost of such foreign solutions. If organised better and provided related supports in facilitating business, there is a possibility that this sector will rival even the ones that enable the country to fetch the highest amount of foreign exchange earning right now. After all, the most important elements involved here are intellect and technological knowledge. On that count, the country's young followers of computer science and IT have already proved their talent.    
However to maintain the tempo, the country has to go for faster digitisation with especial emphasis on computer literacy and internet penetration all across its geographic areas. Even students in a village school must learn the basics of computer knowledge. Sure enough, multi-media class rooms have already been introduced in some educational institutions. But the picture is not equally rosy everywhere. There are schools in villages where even students are forced to take lesson under trees or in the open in the absence of a proper school house or building. In some other schools, there are no teachers qualified enough to impart computer lessons. Even computer sets, supplied by the government, have no use because of a host of problems such as no separate room for computer class and absence or irregular supply of electricity. These are some of the practical problems facing learners at the school and college levels. So, these problems have to be addressed in order to reach out the benefit at the grass-roots level.