Speakers at a seminar laid emphasis on introducing computer courses in school, college and university, providing training to the trainers and establishing more computer institutes for achieving the goal of producing 10,000 programmers annually, reports BSS.

"Intensive programmes should be taken by the government to reach this target," they said, citing examples of India that is now producing around 70 to 80 thousand programmers each year.

The day-long seminar on "Producing 10.000 programmers annually: The role of the academia and the industry" organised by Bangladesh Computer Council (BCC) was held at the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUED. yesterday.

State Minister for Planning Dr Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir inaugurated the seminar as chief guest while eminent information technology expert Prof Jamilur Reza Chowdhury read out the key-note paper.

Presided over by secretary of

the ministry of science and technology M Fazlur Rahman, the inaugural session was also addressed by Prof Abdus Sobhan, Executive Director of BCC.

The state minister said "the g&Wrnment is pledges-bound to develop skilled human resources based on information technology. The government will also provide support to the expansion of information technology in the country," he

Laying emphasis on introducing computer course in the educational institutions, he said the computer course should be compulsory for every slu-

Prof Jamilur Reza made a set of recommendations to achieve the goal and develop skilled human resources.

The recommendations include doubling seat capacity in the educational institutions, providing certificate by the BCC to* those who have learnt computers from different training centres and establishing more IT-based institutions.