Contents - Connect-World

Global Development
“Education will foster
sustainable human
development, reduce
poverty and empower
people to capitalise on
their potential and
skills. ”
respective countrys economy. On the
subject of education, it is important
to promote learning as a basic human
right, but due to socio-economic disparities
between developed and
developing countries, people in most
developing countries do not even
have access to education.
In the context of ICT literacy, a concerted
effort has to be made to integrate
ICTs into educational programmes.
This is needed to design
and implement a well-defined infrastructure,
which could also promote
sustainable development.
This issue was clearly stated in the
Tokyo Declaration on the WSIS: The
Asia-Pacific Perspective (2002) that
ICTs can contribute to enhancing the
quality of teaching and learning and
sharing knowledge and information.
It is hoped that through this process,
the level of literacy and ICT skills will
be greatly increased.
Education will foster sustainable
human development, reduce poverty
and empower people to capitalise on
their potential and skills.
One other challenge that stands in
the way of achieving these goals is,
notably, the fact that developing
countries have restricted access to
technology owned by the developed
countries. For example, advanced
countries often use intellectual property
rights to protect access to modern
technology.
Therefore, a more harmonious balance
between protection and access
“Investments in education
and training, including
basic and digital literacy,
with consideration
for culturally diverse
digital content and
material, are fundamental
to the development
of human capacity.”
must be achieved. Likewise, we must
underscore the importance of narrowing
the gap between countries.
This can best be accomplished by first
allowing access to ICTs in developing
countries and second making it
affordable for them.
Connectivity is another vital element
that must be considered if the implementation
of ICTs is to give hope to
anyone wishing to partake of the benefits
of globalisation. In fact, connectivity
is very central to enabling the
construction of a foundation whereby
everyone can participate and have
equal access to technology.
In this context, an example of what
has been done to develop human
capacity is the Government of
Indonesias Information Technology
Kiosk Programme, which was created
to empower people by providing
information on technologies useful to
them.
It can therefore be concluded that
access to ICT education and training
is critically important for the acceleration
and expansion of a knowledgebased
global society.
For this reason, investments in education
and training, including basic
and digital literacy, with consideration
for culturally diverse digital content
and material, are fundamental to
the development of human capacity.
Hence, in order to take advantage of
the potential benefits of information
technology, these measures should be
some of the core strategies adopted
by each government and by other
interested stakeholders.
Moreover, it is important, through
education, to develop human
resources capable of responding to
the demands of the modern information
age and, similarly, able to
address the rising demand for ICT
professionals in various sectors.
Increasing human capacity through
ICT education and training will help
countries meet the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs) and thus
encourage the establishment of a
knowledge-based global society.
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