Bdnews24.com

The government needs to take drastic steps for the IT-based business in Bangladesh to flourish, says Lokesh Mehra of Cisco Systems, a leading supplier of networking equipment and network management.

In an exclusive interview with bdnews24.com, Cisco's South Asian manager for corporate responsibility said that the shortage of network professionals in Bangladesh would stand at about 3.4 lakh by the end of 2009.
 
Referring to an e-governance initiative by the government, which involves regions being connected by tele-centre networks run across the country, Mehra said: "Bangladesh will require people to man those centres, connect one province to another and manage that network. And there is a big skills gap".
 
Cisco Systems launched a network education programme with BUET at educational institutions in Bangladesh in 2001. There are now 15 institutions across the country providing IT students with networking knowledge.
 
"The Military Institute of Science and Technology has also recently signed up with us because they feel their officers need to get trained in networking technology," the Cisco regional boss said.
 
He said institutions were provided with the curriculum and the learner management system, entirely free of cost, to train faculties that in turn trained the students.
 
"So, what we are offering is a channel to be trained in a Cisco academy. And there is always the option for self-study and appearing in exams," added Mehra.
 
The Cisco education programme offers four courses. They are Cisco Certified Entry Network Technique (CCENT), the most popular one, Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA), Cisco Certified Network Professionals and the topmost rung, Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert (CCIE).
 
"In Bangladesh there are currently 1,082 CCNPs and only 2 CCIEs in routing and switching," said the regional manager of Cisco's corporate responsibility wing.
 
Mehra is visiting Dhaka to organise a national skills competition for Cisco networking academy students across Bangladesh to be conducted at American International University of Bangladesh on July 5.
 
He will also hold meetings with academics on ways to improve networking education for students in Bangladesh.
 
"We are going to meet with a few other institutes to share information on how to become a Cisco academy. We are also meeting with existing academies to find out whether they are facing any issues, any support that they additionally require."
 
"Plus we are getting together with HR people from companies to talk about their need for certified professionals," he said.
 
Mehra cited mobile phone companies in Bangladesh as an example of those not being able to source the large numbers of qualified individuals they required.
 
Of the national skills competition, for existing as well as graduate students, he said that they would be tested on how to build networking technology and troubleshoot.
 
"They will be given questions with regard to a specific network and asked to find where the problem is and they will divide that network and make it functional."
 
The top two or three teams will compete in SAARC competitions, and among those, the best will compete at the Asia-Pacific regional and then at the global level, said the Cisco regional manager.
 
"It's a kind of move up the value chain overall."
 
On the Bangladesh IT scenario, Mehra said: "English awareness is very high in Bangladesh, which against the backdrop of the government's incentive for call centres, is a huge advantage."
 
He added that relatively low salaries compared to some neighbouring countries was also an advantage.
 
Pointing to the drawbacks, he said that infrastructure cost was still too high.
 
"Now there is submarine cable, but still the costs are very high. If they are not lowered, I think there would be some issues with respect to what can be done," Mehra said.
 
"We have seen from our past experience in Asian countries and other locations that if you have trained manpower, people will come to your country and invest."
 
Wondering why computer education was a fourth subject in secondary education, he said: "When others are developing IT- knowledge-based economies, why is Bangladesh stepping back and keeping ICT or computer education at bay?"
 
Mehra told bdnews24.com that Cisco's major focus in Bangladesh was to highlight networking as a career option and the significance of networking in our day-to-day life.
 
The unfortunate part was that in Bangladesh a large number of people were not aware of networking itself as a career option, he said.
 
"Everybody thinks only of software and software. That is a concern area in terms of what should be done."
 
Mehra said that each and every sector runs on networks now-a-days. "So if the network goes down, the economy goes down."
 
On IT education in Bangladesh, Mehra said that the students were not exposed to hardcore practical experience. "It is very much theoretical knowledge that they get."
 
"It was very surprising for me to know that there are 14,000 IT professionals in Bangladesh and how many of them are actually doing IT jobs is actually a question," said the Cisco South Asia manager.
 
Focusing on the need for IT students to become more specialised, he said: "Specialisation is going to be in high demand down the line."
 
Touching on future plans, Mehra said that they would offer basic level IT awareness courses, especially in polytechnics and probably, schools.
 
On business growth, he said that Bangladesh was doing pretty well.
 
"From a Cisco perspective, we started off with two people and today we have separate people to look over different verticals."
 
Growth was typically occurring in the service provider sector as well as in the enterprise sector, Mehra said.
 
But due to political instability, there has not been the kind of growth that should have been expected, he added.