SEREMBAN, March 8 (Bernama) — The people in the country, including the young generation, need to be equipped with technology-related knowledge as preparations to face the rapid digital technology advancement and the fourth industrial revolution (Industry 4.0).
For that, Communications and Multimedia Minister Gobind Singh Deo said his ministry would strive to ensure sufficient Internet infrastructure to cater for the demands of all users so that no one would lag behind.
”That is one of the things that I give extra emphasis on as the Minister of Communications and Multimedia.
“If we look at the UNESCO report, 90 per cent of future jobs will require some forms of ICT (information and communication technology) skills. This shows how important it is for us to prepare ourselves from now to face future challenges.
“The World Economic Forum 2016 also reported that 65 per cent of the children entering primary school now will ultimately work in a job that doesn’t exist today,” the minister said when launching ‘JomStudi’, a digital learning portal, here today.
Also present were Malaysian Communications and Multimedia (MCMC) chairman Al-Ishsal Ishak, Labu assemblyman Ismail Ahmad and Malaysian Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) talent and digital entrepreneurship vice-president Sumitra Nair.
At the same time, Gobind said the government would do its level best to provide Internet access to the young generation, both in the urban and rural areas.
“If we don’t have Internet access, we will not be able to use or enjoy the facilities offered through this technology. So, we must first ensure that we have Internet access, and the one we have must be of good quality.
“This calls for high-speed Internet penetration at a reasonable price. This is important for us to ensure that we can really benefit from this digital technology,” he said.
At a press conference later, Gobind would propose for a technology syllabus to be introduced at all schools and that he would discuss this with Education Minister Dr Maszlee Malik.
“We will make an announcement about this later, but this is one of the moves for us to enter the digital era,” he said.
On the ‘JomStudi’ programme, he said it was a good initiative and should be expanded nationwide to benefit more students.
“This is an important start and I hope that it will not end here, but instead will be expanded to other schools across the country,” he said.
‘Jomstudi’ is a digital and interactive learning portal designed for students from rural communities with limited Internet access. It is a collaborative effort between Astro, Digi and Media Prima and is supported by both MDEC as well as MCMC, to provide students with ease of access to education material that follows the syllabus format set by the Ministry of Education.
The material used derived from Astro Tutor TV’s interactive video content as well as Media Prima’s FullAMark, an online portal that provides revision exercises for Year 5, UPSR, PT3 and SPM students.
