TM Continues to boost ICT literacy among students and communities

Telekom Malaysia Berhad (TM) today continues to play its role in boosting ICT literacy among the students and communities with its contributions to Sekolah Kebangsaan Panglima Adnan in Port Dickson, Negeri Sembilan.

For this cause, TM facilitated the establishment of an IT Corner or “Sudut IT” for the computer lab of SK Panglima Adnan which include upgrading the computers as well as contributing 5 new computers for the school. TM will also be providing Internet connectivity via wireless broadband utilising the existing SchoolNet’s network to enable the students and the teachers to access the Internet and reap its benefits. In addition, GITN Sdn Bhd (GITN), a wholly-owned TM subsidiary that manages SchoolNet for the Ministry of Education, is providing the school with 10 Tutor.com accounts, an online learning portal for students to do online revision to prepare them for examinations.

The IT Corner was launched by YB. Dato’ Seri Utama Dr. Rais Yatim, Minister of Information, Communications and Culture. Also present at the ceremony were Dato’ Jailani Johari, Senior Director, USP, Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission, Mohd Ali Hanafiah Mohd Yunus, Senior Director, Infrastructure Development Division, Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission, Dato’ Abdullah Mohammad, Negeri Sembilan Education Director and Saniah Abu Samah, Headmistress of SK Panglima Adnan.

Fully aware of the importance of education in developing a nation, TM is proud to continuously play a pivotal role in Corporate Responsibilities for the local communities. Towards this end, TM is providing the school with ICT facilities to equip the students with better IT knowledge. With a three-pronged objective which is to introduce the use of ICT in education, to introduce schools as community centre for ICT knowledge dissemination and to bridge the digital divide, this programme is yet another testament of TM’s commitment in supporting national aspirations of producing a knowledge community.

Not only the students and the academic staff of the school will enjoy this facilities, the IT Corner will be able to increase the IT literacy among the parents and the surrounding local communities as well as exposing them to the vast benefits of Internet. With Tutor.com, it is hoped that the school community of almost 900 students and 62 teachers will be able to utilize the interactive learning portal as a learning enhancement tool, especially for the students who come from the lower income group.

On top of that, the school is also provided with access to the SchoolNet’s SchoolZone portal to enable the teachers to share the interactive learning and teaching modules among each other. In addition, the school community will also be able to utilize the portal to communicate with the communities from other schools in the SchoolZone community. The School IT teacher will be trained on how to make full use of the portal by the SchoolZone facilitator.

To ensure the sustainability of this effort, TM will be maintaining the computers for one year. In order to facilitate maintenance of the equipments, TM will also organize basic computer management and maintenance classes for the teachers to familiarize and expose them with basic components of a personal computer. The classes will provide a hands-on approach to enable the teachers to perform basic repairs and upgrades of the computers rather than relying upon third party to do so for them.

These efforts form a part of TM’s larger Corporate Social Responsibilities (CSR) initiative under its three-pronged approach namely education, community/nation-building and environment. Under the education platform, among the initiatives are the establishment of Multimedia University (MMU) as the first private university in the country. Besides that, Yayasan TM, the social arm of TM, has awarded scholarships worth RM30 million this year to 823 deserving students to pursue their studies at government schools and universities in Malaysia and abroad. Since its inception in 1994, more than 11,000 students have benefited from this scholarship programme which amounted to over RM390 million.

Adapted from Telekom Malaysia, 8 OCTOBER 2009