IT Education Industry in Sri Lanka: The Way Forward

Abstract

The paper explores the current situation of the Information Technology (IT) education in Sri Lanka with particular emphasis on problems encountered, and recommends policy reforms to develop the industry. IT has been the phenomenon of the 20th century, and will continue to play an important part in this century as well. For a country such as Sri Lanka IT is an ideal tool that can help economic growth by empowering the people. The public as well as the government has identified this, and currently there is a great demand for IT education. As a result many IT training facilities have been established by the government and the private sector. The report initially observes the present situation in the industry. The importance of developing the industry in a country such as Sri Lanka, and existing policies are discussed in the subsequent sections. In the early stages the industry evolved on its own with little or no long term planning, regulatory policies or standardization. Many other issues such as language, costs, inadequate practical training and lack of qualified teachers, were encountered. These issues are explored in detail in section that follows. The report then leads into a set of general recommendations and suggests policy reforms aimed at gearing the industry to play a greater role in economic growth in the country.