Sabah doing fairly well in science, technology

Sabah doing fairly well in science, technology - Dr. Ongkili
Wednesday, 01 October 2003 (Source: Daily Express)

Kota Kinabalu: Sabah is doing fairly well in its development of science and technology compared to other states in the country, Science and Technology Adviser to the Chief Minister Datuk Dr Maximus Ongkili said Tuesday.

In terms of national rating, he said the State’s usage of science and technology ranked seven out of ten.

He reckoned the State rating on the same usage would be within the scale of six to ten. “We are not too far. A lot of programmes pertaining to science and technology development here have been carried out in the past five years.

“We only need to keep up the momentum and, at the same time, focus on e-community programmes to bridge the digital gap at district levels,” he said to reporters after launching the State-level Science and Technology Month at Wisma Muis, here Tuesday.

Compared to other states, Dr Maximus said Sabah was doing reasonably well in terms of keeping track with the latest technology development, acknowledging the availability of technology facilities and implementation of promotional efforts at school and community levels.

“The public sector here is also keeping up with the technology, including practising the e-government in their work,” he said.

Dr Maximus said the Government was targeting to have more computer literacy training for district councils, native chiefs, village chiefs and Village Development and Security Committee chairmen as they were considered pivotal in encouraging children not to be fearful of computers.

In comparison to Selangor and Penang, he said the State had the potential to be the next front-liner in the aspect of technology and information databank usage.

“We are quite at the forefront except for the utilisation of the technology facilities which need to be upgraded at the community level to bridge the digital gap, especially in rural areas.

“The National IT Council has even done some relevant programmes supported by the Rural Development Ministry, and at State level, we have the State IT Council which is making a similar effort,” he said.

According to him, the Information Technology (IT) Development Unit will conduct a lot more IT literacy programmes in rural areas to encourage usage of IT at community level through district offices and libraries.

At school level, Dr Maximus pointed out that the usage of IT in rural areas is quite low and that this would have to be monitored and increased.

“Some primary schools in rural areas which have been provided with ten computers and six LCDs, surprisingly, do not have computer labs and those schools that have computer labs, are left unused.

“So this is where the Parents and Teachers Associations (PIBG) come into the picture by playing an important role to bridge the digital gap at community and school level in both urban and rural areas.

“We suggest the computer facilities be shared among the PIBG members and the local residents. They could learn to use the computer facilities in the weekends for mutual benefit and other basic computer applications,” he said.

Earlier, Dr Maximus said the objective of the Science and Technology Month programme was to give exposure to all students in primary and secondary schools about the latest developments in science and technology.

He also called on other parties such as industry players, universities, research institutes, scientific communities and the public to play their roles effectively in the development of science and technology in the State.