Philippines' DepEd urges educators to optimise existing ICT programmes
schools through the assistance of the private sector.
The DepEd Chief stressed that “it is about time that we effectively use ICT in teaching and learning as well as in managing the delivery of services.” Ayala Foundation, Intel, USAID, SMART, Oracle and Microsoft are just some of the institutions that support DepEd in its goal to bring digital literacy to students in the Philippines and make them more competitive with the country's progressive neighbours.
Indonesia inks education agreement with Turkey
Indonesian Education Minister Bambang Sudibyo has signed a MoU with his Turkish counterpart, Husyin Celik, to solidify education links between the two countries. The agreement, inked at Jakarta, allows for formal exchange programmes between students, teachers and researchers from both countries. 'The agreement also allows for equivalency in education qualifications and scholastic degrees between the two,' Sudibyo said.
Celik said his government was looking to increase scholarship opportunities by 300 % in 2009. 'Initially, Turkey provided scholarships for graduate and postgraduate studies to five recipients, but this will increase to 20,' he said. Celik added Turkey would also send its students to study in three top Indonesian tertiary institutions.
Malaysian minister visits SEAMEO Voctech
The project was formally signed on January 26 last year with several key milestones already achieved. The e-Learning project aims to change the learning and teaching deliveries in relation to 'A' Levels, DTE, ITB and UBD. The ID Lab has been designed to support and sustain the e-Learning initiative. The lab boasts the latest technologies, in terms of both hardware and software for multimedia development, state-of-the-art machines for multimedia recording and editing, as well as video and audio recording and editing equipments.
Education programme for Bangladesh street children
As part of its corporate social responsibility the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) with the partnership of Aparajeyo Bangladesh, a local non-government organisation, launched a project for providing education to street children as well as young people from marginal background for upholding and establishing their rights in the society.
Sanjay Prakash, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the bank, said the bank would provide Tk 52.5 lakh to Aparjeyo Bangladesh under its global project 'Future First' with a duration of three years. Under the project the HSBC has taken 5-year programme (2007-2012) globally for helping street children, children in care and orphans in countries where such children exist.
Sri Lanka declares 2009 as the year of English and ICT
He said that in order to achieve these goals, the ministry has initiated and updated various ICT programmes around the island to offer access to even those in rural areas. He cited the example of Penideniya College which has enhanced the English skills of teachers in the Kandy area. The fully-equipped college can accommodate up to 400 teachers. It has computer laboratories, libraries and a self-access centre.
