BD Govt issues guidelines on skills certification for ICT freelancers

The government has issued guidelines on skills certification for information communication and technology freelancers in a bid to formally recognise their skills and knowledge acquired through practical work and life experiences.

The National Skills Development Authority under the Prime Minister’s Office on Sunday issued the guidelines to enhance employability, mobility, lifelong learning, social inclusion and self-esteem of the freelancers through formal certification of their skills.

According to the guidelines, signed by NSDA executive chairman Dulal Krishna Shaha, all types of ICT freelancers trained on or off the job formally, non-formally or informally are eligible to apply for the certification.

The NSDA will provide certificates to qualified candidates on completion of assessments to be carried out online.

Candidates will have to sit for a written test, demonstration and verbal test as part of the assessment.

A candidate must be at least 18 years old as specified by the government and must have knowledge and skills for the specific occupation and level for which he or she wants to be certified, it said.

Earlier in November, the ICT Division and the Bangladesh Freelancers Development Society jointly started issuing digital identity cards to freelancers and online workers to recognise their works in society.

A Bangladeshi citizen who has earned at least $1,000 through his or her work online in the previous 12 months can apply for the ID for an application fee of Tk 1,500.

The major problems faced by freelancers are their inadequate technical and language skills. In addition to these, a large number of freelancers do not get decent jobs for lack of certification of their skills, according to the guidelines.

‘The ultimate outcome of the certification is to produce a competent workforce,’ it said.

The certification for freelancers will also enhance national and international recognitions of their skills and improve job opportunities and thus foster better and decent jobs.

Employers will also get a competent workforce, it added.

The recognition process will include acknowledgement of jobrelated knowledge and skills gained through formal and informal trainings, through paid and unpaid works and via life experiences or a combination of all these, it said.

The NSDA will scrutinise the applications according to occupations and levels and will provide free orientation to selected candidates before the final assessment.

Candidates will conduct a self-assessment at the end of the orientation on their level of confidence for the final assessment.

Assessment will be conducted using the NSDA-developed and approved assessment tools based on competency standards, qualifications levels and quality assurance modules.

The NSDA will conduct all activities related to the assessment and certification of skills online.

New Age