A booming construction industry and steadily growing apparel industry are in need of IT personnel that cannot be filled from elsewhere in the country and have launched a programme to groom the youth of the district to fill these vacancies and for vacancies that will be created as development shifts gear.
The Ampara Chamber of Commerce, an affiliate to Business for Peace Alliance, said that many of the IT training centres that had cropped up in the district did not work with the business community.
Many international and national NGOs had set up various vocational training centres in the Ampara district in response to the humanitarian calls after the devastation caused by the tsunami and the rebel conflict.
"The construction industry is booming in Amapara and will expand at a rapid pace in the near future. This industry is in need of computer designers, webpage designers to help with in-house planning and designing of various construction projects," Prakash Peiris, Chief Operating Officer, BPA, said.
"Similarly, proprietors of several garment factories in the district are in need of IT-based designers."
Peiris said these vacancies cannot be filled because people think the East is not safe.
"On the other hand, the youth in the East think Colombo is unsafe because of the bus bombs," Peiris, who travels widely in the country, said with a tone of irony.
"So the vacancies in Ampara must be filled by the youth in Ampara."
A survey carried out by the chamber revealed that most of the IT training centres did not liaise with the business community in Ampara which resulted in a mismatch between the training the youth received and what was required by there prospective employers.
"A sample selected from the key businessmen in the district was used in this survey. There was much concern among them about the lack of communication between the vocational training centres and the business community, which is the cause of this gap," the chamber said.
"The students who graduate from these centres do not fit into the job market."
The Ampara business chamber also said that despite phenomenal support from both government and non-government institutions to develop livelihoods and infrastructure, little was done to equip business with the skills required to keep a breast with modern trends.
"This is one of the reasons why development is slow. Lack of IT and business communication skills are glaring inadequacies."
In response to this Business for Peace Alliance (BPA) and IDM Computer Studies Ltd have teamed up to set up two IT schools in the district.
Funded by Mercy Corps, in collaboration with the Ampara Chamber of Commerce, this programme is under the BPA’s ‘Regional Empowerment and Conflict Transformation through Skills Development of Tsunami Affected Business Community and Youth’ proramme.
"Many of the IT Centres we visited in Ampara are Playstations at best. Parents are happy that their children are going for computer classes. The children are happy that they get to play games. No one complains," Peiris said.
He said that BPA and Ampara Chambers of Commerce and Industry will monitor IDM’s programme to ensure that the IT capacities required in the construction and apparel sectors of the district are met.
"In the future, once development starts to grow at a more rapid pace we can introduce newer courses so that employable youth will drive the future of their own home towns," Peiris said.
