Project increasing highly skilled IT workers number launched

MANILA, Philippines - The Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), Informatics Philippines and the Business Processing Association of the Philippines launched yesterday a project that aims to increase the number of highly skilled information technology (IT) workers in the country.

Leo Riingen, chief executive officer of Informatics Philippines, said the project dubbed, “Society for Higher Information Technology Education” or SHIFT aims to meet the growing demand in IT-Business Process Outsourcing industry.

TESDA would allocate P20 million for the training of new graduates on information and communication technology (ICT) to be conducted by the BPAP.

“Fueled by the immense growth potential in the IT-BPO industry, SHIFT hopes to enable non-government organizations, local government units and BPO-member companies, students and other volunteers to invest in overall IT education and take advantage of the high demand in the industry,” Riingen said during the project launch at the Dusit Thani Hotel in Makati City.

A survey done by the IBON Foundation this year found that only three out of 10 college graduates looking for work may be able to find jobs if the government remains unable to create sufficient jobs.

The Department of Labor and Employment said this is not due to lack of job opportunities but a skills mismatch between what is taught in school and what the industry needs.

“The current mismatch of what is being taught in schools and what the industry is looking for hinders us from realizing our true potential as a leader in the offshore sector,” Riingen said.

SHIFT is looking at facilitating financial donations for scholarships, IT equipment and infrastructure as well as software and educational materials, Riingen said.

It also hopes to inspire volunteerism to teach IT classes to children and cooperation between partners to provide continuous training and make competitive jobs more accessible, he said.

Oscar Sanez, BPAP CEO, said the BPO industry accounts for 4.5 percent of the country gross development product.

He said the global BPO revenues, meanwhile, is expected to reach $250 billion in 2015 from just $150 billion this year.

The local IT-BPO sector is expected to bring $20-25 billion in revenues and provide employment to 1.3 million individuals by 2016, said Sanez.

Riingen said an IT employee in the country earns an average annual salary of P363,264.

He said Informatics graduates enjoy the highest employment success rate in getting IT jobs in the country at 70 percent, according to the TESDA Job Absorption Rate Review.