BIZ-TECH

Over 25,000 Government employees to be provided IT training:

Five-year National ICT Plan formulated

Telecommunication and IT Minister Ranjith Siyambalapitiya said that 25, 000 Government employees would be given IT training in the near future.

He said so while participating at the Consultative Workshop for Formulating the Five-Year National ICT Plan held at the Cinnamon Grand Hotel, Colombo recently (Tuesday).

During his address to the workshop the Minister emphasised that Government employees in various sections would be given IT training and that this would make the public service more people-friendly. Speaking further on the occasion the Minister said that the draft national five-year ICT plan enriched by the inputs provided by the participants would be submitted to the cabinet for approval. Once approved, the plan would be implemented speedily, the Minister said.

The Minister emphasised that making Sri Lanka the knowledge hub and wonder of Asia was the main thrust of the plan. However increasing the ICT literacy of the people and thereby making them have a more fruitful lifestyle were pivotal in the plan, the Minister explained.

Participating in the occasion Secretary to the Ministry of Telecommunication and IT, Nimal Atukorale stated that the inputs of the participants were very valuable. The participants comprising top representatives of Public and Private sector ICT-related institutions including ICT Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA) Chairman Prof P W Epasinghe came up with several valuable suggestions.

Making a presentation of the draft five-year National ICT plan, ICTA Chief Executive Officer Reshan Dewapura explained the perspective of the plan: “The national ICT Development Plan is formulated as one of the main strategies for making Sri Lanka the ‘wonder of Asia’, as per the ultimate vision of “Mahinda Chintana - Vision for the future”. Dewapura summed up the total long term economic expectations incorporated in the plan as : “Creating a US $ 1 billion ICT industry, along with 100,000 new employment in the ICT and BPO related sectors and achieving 75 percent ICT literacy by 2016”. The participants considered the draft plan under four categories such as IT-BPO, Education, Public Service and Media.

Emphasis was made on the desirability of beginning ICT school education as early as Grade Six while not making it ‘as hard as the pure sciences’. Proper co-ordination of already existing facilities enabling, for example, lectures delivered in Colombo to be accessed by Universities in locations like Anuradhapura was a dire need of the hour, a lecturer commented.

Many such valuable inputs were submitted and Secretary to the Ministry of Telecommunication and IT, Nimal Atukorale said that the participants would be further contacted in formulating the final draft of the plan.

Epic provides internships to UCSC undergrads :

Employers recognize Epic training as reliable

Continuing with their traditions and values Epic Lanka accommodated another batch of undergraduate students from the University of Colombo School of Computing (UCSC) for industry training during early this month.

This training is an integral part of the degree program and lasts for a period of 6 months. Epic Internship is unique. The growing demand from students from various local and foreign universities provides ample evidence for the value the students and the employers place on our training methodology. We continue with our high standards of training to ensure the country produces world class ICT professionals, said Krishan Jayewardane, Senior Vice President-Operations of Epic Lanka who is also an alumni of University of Colombo and the UCSC.

Being a leading software solutions company, Epic Lanka has been assisting the University of Colombo School of Computing (UCSC) for the past several years by way of student internships and the feedback we receive from the students is quite impressive, said Dr Shiromi Arunatileka of UCSC who is in charge of the industrial placements of undergraduate students.

Epic Internships mould budding ICT professionals through a comprehensive hands on training aimed at developing a blend of soft skills and core technical skills, Asst Vice President - Operations of Epic Lanka Group Sachith Fernandopulle said. Established in 1998, Epic now operates in Malaysia and Australia as well. Winning the National Business Excellence Award in ICT Sector for the past three consecutive years the company has collected an unprecedented number of 38 National and International accolades during 2008 to 2010.

Epic plans to move to an ultra modern software development and R and D centre named Epic Technology Village located in the capital city, shortly.