Editorial
Trained hands in the wilderness
Utilise their services without ado
FOR months since the IT-intensive project for voter-list preparation with photograph got implemented, a huge chunk of trained manpower has remained idle, thanks to lack of forward human resource planning. Whilst we planned and admirably executed the highly ambitious and widely acclaimed electoral roll preparation-cum-facilitation of ID card issuance project, we had no plans as to how we would utilise the services of the manpower that the army had trained up, after the job got done.
A pool of a little over one lakh data entry operators created at a cost of Taka 11crore has been rusting away all this time. Admittedly, despite resource constraints, we can't allow such a valuable resource to fritter away. Hopefully, the basic IT skills imparted to them have been retained requiring perhaps an intensive spell of retraining to be revitalised and put back into action. But the process must begin now with a course clearly charted for their absorption in right places and fuller utilisation of their services.
There are a plenty of potential placements for them. An immediate possibility that comes to mind has to do with the revision and updating of the voter-list, a task, however, that would entail services of upwards of some 4000 data operators. And it is likely to be a seasonal employment for four to five months. So, we have to look for durable prospects.
Of course, they can be pressed into service towards materialising the government's vision of a digital Bangladesh. To this end, they can be placed at the offices of upazila chairmen and other local bodies, utilised in the computerisation of land records, and the qualified among them can be recruited as teachers at primary and secondary education stages for which new openings are being created anyway.
Besides, quite importantly, they can form a nucleus, with some additional training imparted to them, for generating a strong base of computer savvy people among the generality.
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