Education

One of the significant events that happened this year is the fact that ICT looks set to take on a more crucial role in the implementation of the country’s newly launched National Education Blueprint, which aims to increase the quality of education in schools within the next few years.

Outlining plans to be put into effect during the Ninth Malaysia Plan (9MP) period, the blueprint highlights ICT as a core component in the three main

aspects of the country’s education system: infrastructure, content and manpower.

The blueprint has two main thrusts. First, to complete unfinished tasks laid out in the 8MP (2000-2005) that sought to provide everyone access to education and create a level playing field for all students, emphasising on ICT access with linkage to the Internet. This includes the continuation of the Teaching and Learning Science and Mathematics in English (Pembelajaran Sains dan Matematik dalam Bahasa Inggeris) and Computer Programme.

And second, to exploit fully the potential of schools by having clusters of excellence to enable teachers and students to raise the standard of the learning system in the country to become world-class.

Under the two thrusts, there are six core strategies to further strengthen the national education system: build the nation and people, develop human capital, strengthen national schools, narrow education gap, make teaching a prestigious profession, and make excellence a culture in educational institutions.

Internet protocol version 6 enablement. This year saw Malaysia taking positive steps to meet its ambition to become an Internet protocol version 6-enabled country by 2010, in time for the estimated expiry of IPv4, which will see the exhaustion of IP addresses needed for future growth of Internet-related appliances, applications and services.

The plan is set to put the country on equal footing or ahead of other countries where IP-based services and applications are concerned, but its progress may suffer a slight delay.

According to the roadmap for the transition from IPv4 to IPv6, the first stage of the plan involves having sector migration that will start with Internet service providers by end of 2006 and Government agencies by 2008. This will be the basis for IPv6 proliferation nationwide by 2010, with national network support.

Specialised intellectual property courts. Another boost for the ICT industry is the setting up of specialised intellectual property courts, which will start hearing cases under the Trade Description Act 1972, Patent Act 1983, Copyright Act 1987 and Optical Disc Act 2000. The move underlines the Government’s effort to position the country as a regional ICT hub.

Regardless of whether the investors are local or foreign, a fair and efficient system to hear, administer and dispose of intellectual property infringement cases will enhance the business environment in the ICT sector, say observers.

But based on the records that only 1,072 intellectual properties were registered over the past 11 years from a pool of 1,737 MSC Malaysia companies, sceptics are wondering whether the establishment of the intellectual property courts will have any significant impact on the industry in terms of intellectual property development.

MyREN. Another significant happening is telesurgery, a method of performing “remote” surgery through a high-speed network, could soon become a reality in Malaysia as the Malaysian Research and Education Network (MyREN) has joined forces with other similar networks across the globe such as the Asia Pacific Advanced Network, Trans-Eurasia Information Network 2 and GEANT2, which is Europe’s multi-gigabit network. The initiative underlines the potential of ICT regardless of the industry it is utilised in.

Digital transmission of free-to-air TV. Another interesting happening is the Digital Terrestrial Television Broadcasting (DTTB) initiative undertaken by public service broadcaster Radio Televisyen Malaysia, which is on track for nationwide commercial rollout in three years, using Digital Video Broadcasting-Terrestrial (DVB-T) as standard.

Deputy Information Minister Datuk Seri Chia Kwang Chye said the ongoing trial that saw the adoption of DVB-T for broadcasting transmissions has received positive feedback from the 2,000 participating households within and around the Klang Valley.

Of the total participating households, over 60 per cent said the quality of the signal ranged from good to very good. Close to 90 per cent said picture quality improved while 70 per cent said sound quality was better.

State-initiated ICT efforts. Jumping on the ICT bandwagon is the Terengganu Government, which has set aside RM140 million this year to turn the State into a hub for global creative content and software development activities.

Five main projects have been identified: nurturing local skilled ICT workers, boosting telecommunications infrastructure, expanding e-Government services, developing public e-community, and turning the State into the MSC of the east coast.

According to the State’s chairman for infrastructure development, public amenities and communications Datuk Wan Hisham Wan Salleh, the projects will focus on creative content development, computer graphics and software engineering, which globally are worth a combined US$600 billion (RM2.2 trillion) today.

The Selangor Government, on the other hand, has tripled its ICT budget allocation under the second phase of its IT Strategic Planning (ITSP) roadmap to RM15 million. Its Multimedia Exco Datuk Ch’ng Toh Eng said the move will allow more crucial projects to be implemented such as portal development, setting up of more IT community centres, and developing human capital.

According to him, under the ITSP roadmap, the plan is to have one portal that will allow people to access State Government offices and conduct transactions and dealings online. This is being done with the creation of the Selangor State Government portal (www.selangor.gov.my).