NEWS: Telecentres urged to have more community activities

CYBERJAYA: The Multimedia Development Corp (MDeC) wants the 2,000 telecentres across the country to step up ICT awareness programmes for their rural communities.

MDeC, which is tasked with helping to empower businesses and connect communities through information and communications technology, is disappointed with the low levels of activity at most of these telecentres.

“Out of the 2,000 telecentres, only 18 submitted proposals for the recent MSC Malaysia Karnival Usahawan & ICT event,” said MDeC chief executive Badlisham Ghazali, citing an example. MDeC is guardian of the MSC Malaysia initiative to build a knowledge-based economy.

“Six were chosen and these performed very well. But a lot more needs to be done and by all the telecentres,” he said.

The only way Malaysia will achieve high ICT literacy is if everyone gets involved in their own community, according to Badlisham.

He said the first step is to create awareness and the telecentres should know the best way to do this for their own community.

“People must learn to not be intimidated by technology. Once we have achieved that, we can create a portal to gather feedback and assess what the community needs in terms of ICT,” he said.

The carnivals were held between October 2009 and last month. Those who attended were treated to a digital storytelling activity, an introduction to blogging, and various traditional performances.

Each carnival attracted about 5,000 visitors, said MDeC.