Japan: New lucrative destination of IT professionals

Japan is an island country in South Asia; also known as the land of rising sun. It is more familiar to the world as a developed country of economic prowess and technological wizardry. Since our independence it has been playing a role as the prominent ally for our development.

Although the bilateral relationship between Bangladesh and Japan began from 10 February 1972, the Bengali-Japanese alliance dates back to the ancient times. Japan has always been considered as a friend of Bangladesh by the Bengalis. There is also a similarity between the national flags of Bangladesh and Japan which reflects the bonding between the two nations.

 As the history says, Bengali nationalist leader Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose had asked the Japanese king for help during the Second World War for liberating Bengal from the British rule. At his urge, the Japanese king sent foot-soldiers and air force to assist Bengal.
At present, Bangladesh's economic and commercial relationship with Japan is very significant. Japan has assisted Bangladesh for development in various fields. Among them, Rupsha Bridge and Metro-rail projects are noteworthy. A few days ago, three Japanese Infrastructure companies have surprised us by completing the project before the estimated time and returning the excess funds. This indeed proves their epitome of professionalism and honesty.

Despite a huge difference in the economic status between the countries, the bonding between the governments and the people of these two nations is very strong. Probably because of this bonding Japan has been contributing significantly in our socio-economic development since the birth of Bangladesh. They have always contributed generously in poverty eradication, electricity production and developing manpower.

According to IRD, since our independence to 31 August 2018, Japan alone has provided the highest assistance in development of Bangladesh. In that period, different nations of the world and non-profit organizations had provided financial assistance of USD 52 million.
Though World Bank and Asian Development Bank (ADB) had donated the lion's share of the money, Japan's contribution was major. As IRD says, since 16 December 1971 till present, a total amount of USD 427 crore loan was provided by Japan. USD 311 crore was obtained as grant. Japan had also provided food assistance equivalent to USD 24.5 million.

In world economy, Japan ranks 3rd among all nations. But due to decrease in birth rate and increase in the number of senior citizens, a labour crisis has occurred.  The average lifespan in Japan is 84 years, which is more than any other country in the world. The number of persons above the age of 100 is 69,785 which is seven times more than the past two decades. According to a report by the British Telegraph, there will be a crisis of 0.6 million laborers in the next year.

There are 1.6 applicants against each position in a job. In the last year, the number of citizens capable of work was 6 crore 70 lac. It is anticipated to decrease to 5 crore 80 lac by 2030. As the average lifespan of the country is high, the number of senior citizens is increasing. As a result, to bear their expenses, the government is facing difficulty. The economic advancement is also going at a slow pace. If the maternity rate does not increase, the country will have to accommodate 1.5 million migrants as per the UN.

As the number of senior citizens is more, the government is facing scarcity of manpower. To solve this problem, Japan government has decided to encourage the third world countries having potentiality in manpower for pursuing job and higher education in Japan. In 2015, the migration act was passed in the Parliament after renewal. It had been stated that 3 lac 84 thousand labourers would be hired from different countries of the world.

Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Malaysia, Nepal, Philippines are on the list of those countries. Japan has offered to pay competitive salaries to the skilled manpower of these countries by offering lucrative jobs in Japanese companies. In accordance, Bangladesh has signed an agreement with Japan regarding manpower export. This has created an opportunity for skilled Bangladeshi workers to migrate to Japan almost free of expense.

At present almost 15 thousand Bangladeshis are residing in Japan for work and education. In the last 20 years, they have played a significant role by sending a remittance of USD 1.8 billion and expanding bilateral trade. Once someone is hired by a Japanese company, he/she can serve lifetime. The living expenses are borne by the company. No one is fired unless he/she commits a serious crime. Acquiring Japanese language, the immigrants can portray Bangladeshi culture and trade opportunities in Bangladesh to the Japanese entrepreneurs.

When economic depression prevailed worldwide, Bangladesh gained GDP growth of 7-8 per cent. High potentiality has made Bangladesh rank 11th among the most prospective nations of the world. Despite being the 7th most populous country, Bangladesh has shown outstanding socio-economic growth. Demographic dividend can be obtained by training the 80 million youth of our country through quality education. The rate of literacy is 63.8 per cent at present and the percentage of students pursuing higher education is 12. The number of students pursuing higher education in 2019 has become 3.8 million from 1.6 million in 2009.

According to UGC, the numbers of graduates in Engineering, Technology and vocational subjects from government and private universities are 8,097 and 18,347. Among them, 2,516 and 700 have completed post graduation from public and private universities respectively.
The current age is of information technology. Bangladesh has a good reputation as a country with skilled manpower in Information technology and engineering. Through hightech Park, ICT incubator, Sheikh Rasel digital lab scope of acquiring and applying ICT-based knowledge has been created. Six lac freelancers are working in our country at present.

What is ITEE:
Information Technology Engineers Examination-ITEE is an examination for IT engineers which is conducted by IPA (Information Technology Promotion Agency) Japan at a national scale. It is one of the largest national level ability tests in Japan for which there are 6 lac applicants every year. ITEE exam is taken on the same date and at the same time with the same question set in all member countries of IPTEC (Information Technology Professional Examination Council). It takes place twice a year, in April and in October.

Four exams are being taken by IPTC at present:
Level-1: IT Passport Exam (IPE) is an exam applicable for IT and non-IT professionals and graduates.
Level-2: Fundamental Information Technology Engineer Examination (FE) is suitable for IT professionals and graduates and 4th years' CSE/IT related students.
Level-3: Applied Information Technology Engineer Examination (AP) is suitable for experienced IT professionals.
Level-4: Advanced Examination (AE) is suitable for domain specific experienced IT professionals.

ITEE in Asia:
ITEE has been widely accepted in Asia. An agreement for mutual recognition of ITEE was signed between 13 countries which are China, Taiwan, India, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and Bangladesh. Bangladesh joined as a member country of IPTC on 1 September, 2014.

Bangladesh government is conducting and implementing ITEE in Bangladesh by Bangladesh IT-engineers Examination Center (BD-ITEC) of Bangladesh Computer Council under the administration of ICT Division of Government of Bangladesh. It is the national level examination for IT professionals/graduates in Bangladesh. Non-IT Professionals/graduates also can achieve international recognition for their IT knowledge & skills. BD-ITEC is conducting ITEE in Bangladesh from October 2013 regularly. The following two exams are conducted in Bangladesh now:
Level-1: IT Passport Exam (IP) is suitable for non-IT professionals and graduates.
Level-2: Fundamental Information Technology Engineer Examination (FE) suitable for IT professionals and graduates and 4th years' CSE/IT related students.

Language Skills:
One has to know Japanese language in order to stay in Japan. Nearly three months are required to learn basic level of Japanese. One has to learn Japanese up to N-4 level. N-5 is the primary level. The next level is N-4. So, one needs to know how to speak, write and read Japanese properly. If someone has reached N-2 or N-3 level, it will serve as an additional skill for him/her. There are 28 language centres under the Ministry of Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment. To get a language certificate one has to attend an examination in the Embassy of Japan in Bangladesh.

As Japan is a leading country in technology, if Bangladeshis can work in IT companies then Technology Transfer will take place. If our experienced youths from Japan can lead the project of High tech parks in our country then we will be benefitted.

To sum up, for youth development, implementing PM Sheikh Hasina's vision 2041 and Fourth Industrial revolution, we have to build ourselves up through hard work. Then we will be able to turn Bangabandhu's dream of IT-oriented Digital Bangladesh into reality.

The writer is a Member of University Grants Commission