Kemas gets onboard rural digital drive

KUCHING: The government is committed to producing digital-savvy communities in the rural areas.

Community Development Department (Kemas) Director General Datuk Ahmad Kamal Idris Mohd Nawawi said since 2022, the department has had six main thrusts to ensure its educators are prepared for the needs of the digital world.

The 21st Century Learning Pedagogy course is therefore a government initiative to push this agenda in the village, namely to produce human capital fluent in information technology, he said.

He said this when inaugurating the course for 37 Kemas Sarawak Zone nursery and kindergarten educators here.

An allocation of RM20 million has been approved to carry out efforts under the Early Childhood Education Digital Transformation Plan this year.

“Therefore, our first step is to improve the digital capabilities of personnel through the implementation of various courses, workshops and digital competency programmes for educators in collaboration with academic experts and the industry,” he said.

Next, they can help spread the knowledge to other educators when they return to their respective duty stations.

“In the meantime, to support these efforts, Kemas is currently also trying to supply communication and information technology (ICT) equipment facilities such as laptops and Internet access in nursery classes in stages.

“It is in fulfillment of the hope to make Kemas nurseries and kindergartens digital-friendly,” he said.