Over 1 lakh left to rust away IT skills

Data entry operators in voter list project yet to see job hopes
Over one lakh skilled data entry operators, who were trained by the Election Commission (EC) at a cost of around Tk 11 crore, remain unutilised since the voter list with photographs was readied last year.
Neither the immediate past caretaker government nor the EC could think of any initiative for utilising the trained manpower for other purposes, officials involved in the voter listing project said.
Now the Awami League (AL)-led grand alliance government that promised in its electoral manifesto to build a digital Bangladesh, has plans to use the pool of skilled manpower, said State Minister for Science and ICT Yeafesh Osman.
“I already discussed it with the prime minister and she agreed with the idea,” the state minister told The Daily Star Sunday.
He said he also talked to Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) ATM Shamsul Huda and sought particulars of the trained individuals for locating them.
He said the government plans to provide the offices of upazila chairmen with computers in efforts to build the promised digital Bangladesh.
“Priority will be given to appointing them to local government offices across the country,” Yeafesh said.
The state minister however said the plan is still at an initial stage, and some time will be needed to implement it. “We will also think how to ensure their utilisation for other purposes,” the state minister added.
Information communications technology (ICT) experts also said the government should do something to utilise the skilled pool of manpower in its effort to build the desired digital Bangladesh.
“They can be appointed as teachers to primary and higher secondary educational institutions on the basis of their educational backgrounds,” Jamilur Reza Chowdhury, president of Buet Alumni Association (Buetaa), told The Daily Star yesterday.
“They have already been provided with training. If necessary, they can be provided with further training, so they may teach computers,” Jamilur said adding that something should be done to utilise them.
Asked about the idea of recruiting them to teach computers at educational institutions, the state minister said the idea is good.
The army trained 1.04 lakh data entry operators in a few months at a recorded cost of Tk 10.81 crore under the EC’s highly ambitious project titled ‘Preparation of Electoral Roll with Photographs and Facilitating the Issuance of National Identity Cards’.
The actual cost was however much higher, although many peripheral expenses were saved because of the army’s involvement, officials involved in the project said.
On receiving training, the data entry operators worked for voter listing for four to five months between August 2007 and October 2008, under the supervision of members of the armed forces at field level during the immediate past caretaker government.
With their assistance, the EC completed the landmark task of preparing the current voter list with photographs in early October registering over eight crore voters, and simultaneously prepared the same number of national identity cards for the voters.
The commission also has the electronic database of the eight crore voters, which perhaps will be one of the largest electronic databases of electoral rolls in the world, while being definitely the largest among developing countries.
The new voter list played a pivotal role in holding the ninth parliamentary election in a free and fair manner, drawing appreciation from all over the world.
The EC is now going to recruit data entry operators again for correcting and revising the voter list from June this year. But this time, only 3,000 to 4,000 operators will be recruited through tests, considering the size of the job, which might continue for four to five months.
A number of senior officials, who were engaged in preparing the voter list with photographs, were also thinking back then whether another project could be taken to generate employment for the trained data entry operators at district and upazila levels, sources in the voter listing project said.
“But the idea could not develop much since everybody was busy focusing on the task in hands,” a senior official said.
After the voter list was ready, every data entry operator was given a certificate in recognition of his or her work, which might help them in getting jobs, the official said adding that a very few of them might already have managed work by now.
Asked whether the private sector showed any interest in recruiting them, a senior official in the voter listing project said the private sector did not show much interest yet.
“A very few private IT entrepreneurs communicated with me seeking to recruit data entry operators trained by the project. A very few of them however got jobs in private firms,” the official said.

Courtesy of The Daily Star