ICT literacy: a must for a developing nation

LITERACY RATE : We rest on our laurels that our literacy is at a high level. In fact, we boast about it at every possible forum. Undoubtedly, every successive government had worked hard to bring our literacy rate to over 90%.

We have consistently allocated resources to reach these levels. If you look at the rest of the world, not many countries can boast about a healthy literacy of their population. In the South Asian region, we have the best along with Maldives.

However, the age of literacy improvement is now no more relevant as we want to be reckoned with other developed countries.

For this purpose, a new yard stick is fast replacing normal literacy and numeracy; it is the Information and Communication Technology literacy or ICT literacy as commonly known. Most developed countries have leap frogged into the ICT age and have ensured that their people are well fortified with ICT skills.

In a survey carried out by the Department of Census and Statistics in 2005, it was revealed that Sri Lanka had an ICT literacy of around 9%. What does this mean? As much as literacy of 90% would mean that 90% of our population can read and write a language, in almost all cases one’s mother tongue, ICT literacy simply means that around 9% of our population is able to use ICT equipment with some degree of ease.

Today, it is estimated that close to 20% of our population is ICT literate. That means during the last 2 years we have been able to enhance the ICT literacy of our people. We will later see what contributed to this significant increase.

We can easily understand why normal literacy is important. Similarly, we should be able to comprehend why ICT is important to us as a developing nation. Computers or other IT related equipment have invaded our busy lives in all aspects.

Whether it is television, telephone, refrigerators, or any other household equipment, operation of some of these requires some kind of understanding of the operational procedure. Some of these have ICT components.

Most transactions in many institutions involve computers. Today, most people would not waste time going to a bank to withdraw money; they will simply use the Automated Teller Machines (ATMs). To use these machines, one needs some kind of skill. There are many more examples that can be drawn from our daily life. Therefore, having ICT literacy is important.

Certainly, if one seeks employment in most desk jobs, possession of ICT skills is a sine qua non. Interestingly, some of the skilled jobs, such as machine operators in the apparel industry, too would require a certain degree of ICT literacy. Many employment opportunities in the private sector would require ICT skills.

Whether it is a bank, airline company, hospital, supermarket or any other business house in the private sector, computers are widely used for many tasks. Some businesses are totally computerised. Use of paper in these institutions is minimized.

As Sri Lanka approaches the development thresholds, more and more employment opportunities would be available to those who possess ICT skills. Most office jobs will require the ability to handle a Personal Computer (PC).

Most organisations will be networked and job aspirants will be required to work in a networked environment. Employment with high remuneration will require advanced skills in IT, thus indicating to us the trend towards ICT usage in our lives.

How do we provide the ICT skills to our populace? ICT skills are imparted primarily in the schools system. Private and international schools use ICT much more than government schools. Firstly, opportunities for children to learn ICT in the former are much greater, because ICT is part of the usual curriculum and forms a subject.

In some private and international schools, kids at pre-grade I and grade I levels are exposed to playing with computers thus allowing small children to acquaint themselves with IT equipment. Children are gradually introduced to ICT and its innumerable marvels.

These children who are fortunate enough to be exposed to IT obviously will have a great advantage over their counterparts in the government run schools most of which would not have at least one computer in their premises.

Secondly, teachers use the computer as a teaching tool to teach in the classroom. Therefore, in the private sector run schools, children have a distinct advantage and in time to come, lucrative jobs will all be theirs.

Quite contrary to the situation above, of the 9000 odd state run schools, around 1500 schools may be having 5-10 computers in an ICT laboratory or an IT room. However, even in these schools IT is not a part of the normal curriculum, and children would be lucky if there is a teacher who could impart the skills at least as a benevolent act.

It is foolish to believe that these schools can employ a teacher who is IT enabled or qualified. It is during the so called ‘free periods’ that children can experience the use of a computer, that too most probably for a few minutes.

There will be hundreds of children vying for the few experiential learning slots. On most occasions, for the lack of a person in charge (most probably, none will want to take the responsibility) the IT room will remain closed. These are the ground realities.

Nevertheless, if we are to increase IT literacy of the population, the state school system is the best place, because there are 4 million children in it. During the 13 years a child spends in this system, surely there are many opportunities that the system can grab to impart IT skills to children.

If children are introduced to computing at early or late primary levels, then it is very likely that these children will develop an interest to further their IT skills. Then, there is the possibility of introducing computing at grade 6. If it is offered later, then it is likely to interfere with G.C.E ‘O’ level etc.

Seeing all this, an initiative by President Rajapaksa when he was the Prime Minister has paved the way for many rural children to become acquainted with the operation and use of computers. Since January 2005, the establishment of Nenasalas has been one single factor that contributed to the increase of ICT literacy in Sri Lanka.

A Nenasala is a Rural Knowledge Centre that provides about 10-15 computers each with Internet connection. These are mainly established in temples, churches, kovils and mosques particularly in rural Sri Lanka. To date, 400 odd Nenasalas have been established thus serving many rural areas that hitherto had no access for children to be exposed to computing.

These Nenasalas are obviously doing a marvellous job serving hitherto disadvantaged groups in the country. It is not wrong to say that the Nenasalas have empowered rural communities. Leadership provided by the religious leaders in whose institutions most Nenasalas operate has enabled the government to show remarkable progress in this unique initiative.

The possibilities in a Nenasala are innumerable. The ICT facilities will enable children and adults to learn computing as almost all have an operator who is conversant with IT skills.

As Internet is available, it becomes possible to access unlimited sources of knowledge and information. Availability of Internet will provide opportunities to all users to access global data bases and other learning resources.

Most Nenasalas have a very keen group of users who use Internet and email to search for new knowledge, communicate with a wide circle of people throughout the world, enhance learning etc.

Maybe in time to come, there will be Nenasala communities throughout the country giving rise to a network that will serve the rural Sri Lanka offering an array of opportunities.

The government’s target as set by the President is to have 1000 Nenasalas in all parts of the country to serve all communities. These need to be set up by the end of 2008 and the Information and Communication Technology Agency (ICTA), the government’s institution to enhance ICT usage etc., is charged with that onerous task.

In this endeavour, priority must be given to the rural areas where children are at a disadvantage because of a lack of good schools and a minimum requirement of teachers.

At least, the Nenasalas will become learning resource centres for these communities. Most people believe that quality English Language programmes can be disseminated through the network of Nenasalas.

In addition to the above resources, there are many private sector institutions and NGOs that offer a wide array of ICT education programmes.

There is, however, the danger that these courses may not be up to quality standards. In the past, there had been complaints from the general public that some institutions offering ICT courses were fleecing students and not giving something of value in return.

The Tertiary and Vocational Education Commission has a mandate to check on the standards of any categorised courses offered by institutions be it public and private. As outlined above, the road to ICT literacy is already carved out. However, journeying on it must be done with a sense of expediency.

There is no room for complacency in this onerous task. The nation’s ICT literacy must be enhanced so that productivity as a whole will vastly improve. Moreover, when e-government initiatives are in place, there needs to be a greater degree of ICT literacy in our population to derive maximum benefit.

The Reformist