To help educators fill the gap in ICT for Development (ICTD) coverage in universities by promoting the addition of ICTD topics into existing university curricula, the government on Monday, June 24, launched the ?Primer Series on ICT for Development? (ICTD).
The initiative is being spearheaded by the Information and Communications Technology Office of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST-ICTO) through its National Computer Institute (NCI).
The NCI is an academy partner of the United Nations Asia-Pacific Center for ICT (UN-APCICT). The Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) is also part of the project as a program partner.
As part of the launch, around 200 students and faculty from secondary and tertiary schools are taking part in a series of ?Technical Talks? organized annually by the NCI.
This year?s talk, titled ?Empowering the Youth Through ICT?, brings together experts to discuss the significance and impact of ICTs on youth in areas such as social media, ICTs for people with disabilities, mobile applications, robotics and green growth.
With the aim of developing a pool of future leaders, the Primer Series project will be equipping select students and youth the capacity to use ICT in achieving development goals.
The five-day series of talks and workshops is be composed of several tracks addressing a range of topics in ICTD.
Following the event, a Training of Trainers (TOT) workshop will be held for 45 representatives from tertiary institutions in the Philippines, as well as throughout the Asean region.
The workshop will deliver the first two issues of the ?Primer Series on ICTD for Youth?, which was created under the ?Turning Today?s Youth into Tomorrow?s Leaders? project and serves as a tool to help educators fill the gap in ICTD coverage in universities by promoting the addition of ICTD topics into existing university curricula.
?With this series of events on ICT for development, APCICT is taking another important step forward in recognizing youth as development partners of the region,? remarked Dr. Hyeun-Suk Rhee, director of APCICT.
The first track of the Primer Series titled, ?An Introduction to ICT for Development,? gives an introductory overview of the role of ICT in development.
To provide university students with a more comprehensive ICTD overview, the second issue titled, ?Project Management and ICTD? will be launched this June.
The series is intended for students with technical and non-technical backgrounds and is flexible for use in different national contexts.
?The digital divide goes beyond just infrastructure and access, and as such it is important to remember the four C?s of ICT when doing ICT developmental work, these are: Computers, Content, Connectivity and Capacity or rather Human Capacity. The latter being the one I believe we need to focus on the most,? said Undersecretary Louis Casambre of the DOST-ICTO.
