In the 8th National Development Plan, the Ministry of Education had allocated more than $145 million to carry out 29 e-education projects for the development of ICT infrastructure, hardware, software and multimedia development and human resource.
In the current National Development Plan 2007-2012, the Ministry of Education has been allocated additional funds to carry out another 15 e-education projects. This was highlighted yesterday by Hj Mohd Daud bin Hj Mahmud, Permanent Secretary (Higher Education) at the Ministry of Education, at the national workshop on New Information Technologies and Tools in Scientific Education.
Highlighting the importance of ICT in education for the country, the permanent secretary said, "The use of information technologies and tools in science education has increased substantially in recent years and ICT skills have become an integral part of the 21" century education.
"There has been a push to develop the sector under the National Development Plan 2007-2010 in the country, under which efforts have been directed towards enhancing basic ICT infrastructure as well as addressing the need of human resources in ICT and advancing e-government.
"The government has assigned a high priority to ICT, earmarking $1.14 billion (US$786 million) or 12 per cent of the National Development Plan Budget to develop the sector."
On the importance of technology, he said, "Research shows that technology influences learning in three significant ways namely as a driver of change, a bridge to academic excellence, and a platform for informed decision making and accountability. Technology literacy is an essential component of job readiness, citizenry and life skills. Students must not only become competent in the use of technology and associated applications, they also must be able to apply their skills to practical situations."
One of the eight education strategies nder Brunei Vision 2035 is strengthening the competency in ICT for students, teachers and educational administrators, the permanent secretary said.
"The Ministry of Education has brought information communication technology into the core of the education process. Teachers are working hard to integrate ICT during planning and design of lesson plans and assessment. The introduction of portable laptops through the MOBITEL projects and the Interactive White Board (IWB) in special rooms help to create interactive and differentiated learning experiences to meet different learning needs.
"I believe the introduction of ICT in the schools will provide the opportunity in schools for a student-centric approach that will engage our students in the learning process.
"I am confident that our future generation of students who are already native in the digital world will be comfortable with the 21St century learning environment, where it is a learner's centric, technology enriched and digital learning environment. This is in line with SPN21 and the Brunei vision 2035," he said.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): James Kon
Quelle/Source: Brunei Direct, 14.01.2010
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