Is IT the Panacea?

Information Technology is being touted as the end-all and be-all

solution to all of Pakistan's problems. It may offer a ray of hope, but for

it to have any effect on the real issues of the country, a radical

rethinking of our priorities is in order.

The country is currently abuzz with news about information technology

'happenings' and programs. This has generated considerable excitement among

people who now imagine the country finally on its way to catch up with the

world. For them, the IT revolution - as it has come to be called -

represents a way to develop the knowledge and human resource base and a

quick route to generating foreign exchange. In fact, that is the very

philosophy of the IT game: to generate jobs and revenue and to propel us

into the new global economy.

Undoubtedly, in general IT does offer a wonderful opportunity, since capital

costs for getting the ball rolling are very small compared to other areas of

technology. And it is also true that there is a large global demand for its

products. But does development in the IT sector directly tackle the pressing

problems that our country faces?

I believe it could but, for that to happen, there would have to be a radical

rethink of national priorities. And this would require our education,

science and technology and IT policies to directly address the acute

problems that the majority of people face.

Technology is fascinating in its own right, but where large amounts of

public money are involved for its introduction, a serious assessment of our

real needs is essential. In addition, a candid analysis of the advantages

and downsides to its introduction, coupled with knowledge of the society's

absorptive and management capacity, is required. Only then can IT - or for

that matter any new technology - be introduced successfully.

Inherent in the complex nature of this enterprise is the fact that such an

analysis may miss out some important elements. But it is in the process of

mulling over the issues that a clearer picture will emerge which would help

in the process of introduction and assimilation of this technology. In our

country, we seem to be forever rushing forward without carefully thinking

through many of the critical issues, or fully recognizing the global game

plan which may not necessarily work to our advantage.

It is superficially agreed by all, if not deeply appreciated by those in

power, that the foremost problem facing Pakistan today is the general level

of education. Without widespread access to the basic right of education at

the primary and secondary levels, particularly for girls, we cannot make

significant and lasting progress. Coupled with this is the need for teachers

' training, adult education and the use of the ever-pervasive electronic

media for transforming minds.

The second thing to understand is that educational facilities need to reach

villages and small towns - where more than 80 percent of our population

lives - and particularly the poor. Thirdly, we need to realize that our

resources are limited. Their use should be strictly and continually

monitored to assess tangible and intangible outputs. Lastly, since one is

dealing with a very large system with several unknown factors, it is best to

tread carefully, doing small scale experiments to test our theories,

learning lessons, and then scaling up.

Unfortunately, the IT policy - like much of our developmental thinking -

relies on attacking problems at the 'top end', hoping that benefits that

accrue will trickle-down to the lower levels, such as villages and small

towns. For example, the IT Action Projects Portfolio allocates only Rs. 70

million for 2000-2003 for community internet centers in the rural areas, out

of a total outlay of Rs. 10.9 billion to all IT projects.

There are Rs. 150 million allocated for low cost PCs for schools, and some

of them may find their way into rural and small town schools but this seems

unlikely. Almost all the other expense items will benefit urbanites,

white-collar IT workers and high-end technologists.

The current IT plan focuses on the training of people. If there is one

important lesson to be learnt from the previous human resource development

plan, it is that most high-end technologists in areas such as computer

science will leave for better opportunities in the West. Of the 200-plus

Ph.D. trainees that were supported for computer science training over the

last decade, less than 10 remain here. Even when adequate compensation is

provided to new trainees to stay put, they demand extremely high salaries

which are not sustainable. This is because other workers, who are capable of

doing equally valuable work in other areas of science and technology, get

much less.

The lesson is clear: one needs to define training areas where there are

Pakistan-specific needs and to put money into training people primarily in

these subject areas. This would automatically reduce the brain-drain that

results from a training program that is geared to the needs of other

countries.

The current euphoria of our IT workers finding places in Germany is

laughable. This may show that some of our training may be good enough for

external markets. But if the minds produced are of no value to us, what good

is it? Expatriates can help the home country indirectly, but we should aim

to design policies which primarily encourage creative individuals to stay

here and solve our problems first.

In the same vein, the IT university project has Rs. 1.5 billion allocated to

it. There are no projections that I am aware of about how the graduates that

come out of there will find a place in Pakistan's economy. Are we again

using our funds to prepare our youth mainly for the outside world?

There is also great interest in electronic commerce, which is promised to

increase internal and external trade, something we are told is a good thing.

If one is to go by how 'e-commerce' has developed in the West, the main

thing that has resulted from it is consumerism, with increasing emphasis on

global greed. It is unclear how our experience will be any different. It

seems likely to lead to our elite spending even more money on luxury items

from here, there and everywhere.

With government departments in a chaotic state, is there any hope of

'e-governance' helping out? Information technology may be wonderful but it

cannot perform miracles. Surely a rectification of the "manual mess" is

called for before (or at least concurrently with) introducing IT into

government departments. But the previous government was and the present

government is unwilling to do so, as can be witnessed by their reluctance to

improve efficiency, recognize and reward talent, and downsize themselves.

Reducing the public sector workforce should be regarded as an excellent

opportunity for creating training facilities in the public and private

sectors for those being laid off. This would allow them to retrain for jobs

in IT and other areas. Yet no thought has been given to any of this.

Much of the current IT policy overlooks the critical issues of inequity in

our society. With so much money and hopes invested in it, there is a need to

direct it so that it serves the needs of people unlike myself - those who

presently cannot type an article on a word processor and email it to the

newspaper for publication.

It would be great if both my needs and that of the majority could be met

but, as the policy stands at present, this will not happen.

Isa Daudpota, IBADAT, 24 W. Jinnah Ave., Islamabad, Pakistan.

Previously published in The News, Sunday 11 Feb, 2001. 10th Birthday Edition of The News supplement