Aan Information Technology and Business Process Outsourcing (IT-BPO) Career Fair held in Kandy recently attracted a 'large number of visitors', according to a statement by the Information and Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA). It said the concept is "gathering momentum ever since [fairs] were taken to the outstations in March, the first in Galle and the second in Matara, the third in Kurunegala and the latest in Kandy drawing increasing crowds in each of these four venues."
As such, it is suggested that this development indicates a rapid acceptance of careers in the IT-BPO sector spurred on by burgeoning interest in the field by students, teachers and parents which stems from "the conviction that IT-BPO was a career that had all what the target group wanted rolled into one; challenge, excitement, prestige, money, affordability, peer support, parent approval and so on".
Additionally, according to the ICTA statement, the 'rationale' for conducting these fairs is: “Less than 10% of those who sit their A/Level examinations get university placement. This led ICTA – through its ICBP programme – together with the Ministry of Education (MoE) to run the first IT-BPO career fair, at the BMICH – Colombo in 2007 for school children.
This fair organised to spread awareness about the IT-BPO industry also provided individual career counselling by the MoE counsellors along with IT-BPO industry personnel - was a significant success with over 2,500 school children attending.
As many schoolchildren from outside the Western Province were unable to attend this event, ICTA, the MoE and the IT- BPO private sector partnered again in 2009 to organise regional IT-BPO career fairs in eight districts – Anuradhapura, Badulla, Galle, Hambantota, Kandy, Kurunegala, Matara and Ratnapura”. |
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