Experts emphasize production of skilled manpower in IT field

KATHMANDU: Stakeholders participating in a session of Nepal Infrastructure Summit 2022 organised on Thursday emphasized the production of skilled manpower in the field of information technology. IT experts among various stakeholders attended 'Digital Infrastructure and Technology' session of the summit jointly organised by the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport (MoPIT) and the Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI). Baikuntha Aryal, Secretary at the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology (MoCIT), said the ministry has taken initiatives to produce skilled manpower for the IT sector with the cooperation of educational sector. He said due to the quota system, many students could not enrol on IT courses even if they wanted to, and this has an impact on the production of skilled manpower. So the ministry has undertaken an initiative to remove the quota system, Aryal said. "The demand for manpower related to technology will increase in the future. So it is necessary to produce technical manpower," he said and added the IT Ministry has been holding discussions with the Education Ministry. He also said that Nepal is gradually improving in the field of fintech and digital economy. Purushottam Khanal, Chairman of Nepal Telecommunications Authority, gave information about the current status of access and development of IT infrastructure in Nepal. On the occasion, PwC India's technology consultant Santosh Mishra and Azerbaijan's Ambassador Ashraf Shikhaliev gave information about the development of technology infrastructure in their respective countries. Senior Digital Development Expert at World Bank, Siddharth Raja, said the public and private sectors must work together to make a big leap in the technology sector. The special areas that Nepal should pay attention to are broadband connectivity, data economy and manpower production. He also said the environment for establishing data centres in Nepal should be facilitated. Karvika Thapa, Founder and CEO of KimbuTech, said there is a shortage of skilled manpower in the field of IT. Both the government and the private sector should take the initiatives to produce manpower. "There are many job opportunities in the IT sector, but the problem has arisen because there are fewer people working here. The opportunity will become even bigger in the days to come. Keeping in mind the demands of the future, we need to start working in this field from today," Thapa said. READ ALSO:

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