"If we combine the output and creativity of Filipino IT professionals I think we are right up there with India," asserted Dr. Paulino Tan, treasurer of Fuse (Foundation for Upgrading the Standard of Education) during a recent general assembly at Century Park Hotel in Manila.
"Because of our diverse culture, we can easily be trained and adapt to different situations," Tan said.
Citing the more than 600 IT schools in the country, Tan, president of Asia Pacific College, stressed that these schools give individuals a chance to get into the computer field. "I am not against computer learning centers sprouting out provided they don’t disguise certain types of programs as equivalent to a college degree."
He cautioned IT officials from falling into a predicament that the engineering discipline found itself in when technology courses were considered part of its curriculum. Currently, the country has 40,000 engineers many of them in effect used as technicians "that they were not prepared for."
IT schools, he said, should have different classifications so they can produce the type of people the industry needs.
"We have to go back to the brass tracks and produce professionals with the proper scientific culture and from there we can take off," Tan said. "There are three things that are mushrooming in Metro Manila: sago, fish balls and computer schools."
He said IT practitioners have to go back to basics and look at computers as tools they can use. This means reintroduction of basic courses in IT – structures, computer systems and organization, architectural operating systems rather than just office automation and programming languages.
Tan said if the government would look at IT as a solution to the country’s economic problems, the approach should be two-fold: first it has to be used in more basic needs such as agriculture, and then align the sector with the science and technology curriculum.