Three government ministries are providing training to create freelancers in the IT sector. More than a thousand crore taka has already been spent on this training. Although a government study says that there is a huge gap between this training and market demand. Bangladesh lags behind competing countries in terms of skills; it also lags behind in income.

During the previous Awami League government, it was said every year that the number of freelancers was increasing by millions. Various projects were often taken up. The Information and Communication Technology Department (ICT) has spent at least a thousand crore taka on creating freelancers. The National Computer Training and Research Academy (NECTAR) under the Ministry of Education and the Youth Development Department under the Ministry of Youth and Sports have also been spending a large amount of money on creating freelancers.

People involved in the sector are calling this training and expenditure by the government a waste of money. They are highlighting the main problems of training in old syllabus, not understanding the market needs; not providing training to those who need it; not involving participants in training initiatives and not keeping trainers under observation.

ICT Secretary Sheesh Haider Chowdhury told Prothom Alo that there is a need for freelancing. However, attention must now be paid to increasing skills. For this, the ICT Department will involve relevant experts in such training in future works.