‘Dearth of communication skills hinders IT sector growth’

The lack of basic communication skills -- speaking clearly, understanding the needs of their customers and writing properly -- among fresh graduates is a major drawback for local industries, especially for the information technology (IT) sector in Bangladesh.

"Basics of a majority of fresh graduates are missing; they can't write an application properly, numerous mistakes are found in their punctuation, both in English and Bengali," Wahid Sharif, president of the Bangladesh Association of Contact Center and Outsourcing, told The Daily Star in an Interview.

"Many of them can't even speak in Bangla with proper pronunciation, let alone English," he said.

There are also problems among jobseekers in listening skills, analytical skills and work etiquette, making it harder for them to deliver better service, Sharif said, adding that it seems everyone is running after money but not learning.

According to Sharif, this is creating a barrier for the country's business process outsourcing (BPO), which includes the call and contact centre service sector to grow further despite its limited potential.

"When we want to recruit people, we fail to hire three candidates out of 100, making the hiring process costlier," said Sharif.

In the IT industry, a contact centre or call centre is a part of the BPO, a business practice in which a company or organisation hires an external service provider to perform an important business task.

He said the Philippines earns $25 billion annually from this sector while Bangladesh exports only about $300 million due to the lack of soft skills among its youth.

"There are many government projects and different industries that are providing training to people with mid-level and high-level skills. I think that's good for the time being, but it's not sustainable," he added.

Sharif went on to say that they want to ensure the sustainable development of manpower.

"We need to bring positive changes in the core education system, social values and family education. So, we need to increase the qualification of teachers, emphasise on early childhood development, create quality day-care and primary education," he said.

He then said government officials do not sit with industry people while formulating education and skills development policies, which exacerbates the current crisis of quality human resource.

Industry academia collaboration needs to beef up while the introduction of research and development initiatives are needed by the industry, Sharif suggested.