British support sought for education, ICT sectors in Bangladesh
Adviser for Ministry of Foreign Affairs Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury has sought British assistance for the education sector, particularly for developing the proficiency of Bangladeshi students in English language, and information and communication technology (ICT).
The foreign adviser made the request when he met British Chief Treasury (Finance) Secretary Stephen Timms, MP at the Treasury Office in London.
Review non-ICT promoting curriculum
Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak has called for a review of the school curriculum if it does not serve the purpose of promoting Information Communication Technology (ICT) usage in schools.
He said the curriculum should reflect the desire to produce thinkers and incorporate the use of ICT as a means to harness the wealth of information available on the information highway.
Malaysia University goes wireless
The Universiti Teknologi Petronas (UTP) of Malaysia has partnered with Telekom Malaysia Berhad (TM) to set up wireless campus with broadband access in the university.
Under this partnership, students would be able to use the Internet at any time anywhere on the campus. UTP students will be able to log on to the wireless broadband network with their student ID number, using any Wi-Fi compatible mobile device or computer. TM will provide this service in existing library also. The coverage of this service is facilitated by 37 access nodes located throughout the campus. The service will give benefit around 5800 students and would be provided at a cost of RM400,000 per annum.
ICT Ministry gives out old PCs to schools in remote areas
The Ministry of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in Thailand is reducing the gap between education in urban and rural areas by distributing secondhand personal computers to education institutes in remote areas.
The Deputy Permanent Secretary for ICT, Maneerat Plipat, says students in many provinces have less opportunity to use computers. She says the ICT Ministry would like all sectors to donate old PCs, and the ministry will check and fine-tune them before giving them to underdeveloped schools.
Old computers in metropolitan areas May seem to be useless, but for people in remote areas, they are like a virtual library. The ICT Ministry earlier gave out 50 secondhand PCs to schools and government offices in the provinces of Ayutthaya, Sing Buri, and Ang Thong.
Pre-School Classes Get RM72.1 Million Allocation For ICT
The Education Ministry in Malaysia has allocated RM72.1 million for the purchase of desktop computers for pupils in pre-school classes in an effort to transform all schools into “smart schools”.
Another RM113 million was allocated for software courses to assist teachers and pupils. The additional allocation of RM72 million was to ensure that pupils in rural areas were adequately exposed to ICT. Three percent of schools in isolated areas could not hook up to the “Schoolnet” broadband due to the lack of electricity supply, so the ministry would supply high-powered generators or utilise the hybrid solar technology instead.
Iranian Govt in ICT tie-up with Malaysian university
The government of Iran and Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) entered into a co-operative arrangement in the fields of research, teaching and human resource exchange programmes on information and communication technology (ICT).
Both parties would focus on joint research activities and develop publications through the research linkages of individual professors. MICT and USM would also conduct an exchange of faculty staff members and graduate and undergraduate students for the research and study purposes.
Computer labs in containers
Containers will be used in Malaysia for computer facilities in under-enrolled schools and those in rural areas instead of building computer laboratories.
According to the Education Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein, this was cheaper and more practical. The use of containers would also be considered for schools that lacked space for building computer laboratories.
