- 22/08/2017
- Category: Commentaries
Who does not like living in a great country, where everything just seems nice and easy? Indonesians seem to think so. In this digital age, almost everything can be done easier than ever before. Digitalization makes things faster, more efficient, and more affordable in some cases. However, this does require us to be able to adapt to this new ‘system’ for us to fully utilize all the benefits digitalization brings. This leads us to what is known as ‘digital literacy.’ According to Cornell University Digital Literacy Resource, digital literacy is the ability to find, evaluate, utilize, share, and create content using information technologies and the Internet.[i] With the potential that digitalization has to be the future’s key feature, there is an importance for people, in general, to be digitally literate, and this includes Indonesians. However, it seems that Indonesia is still far from being digitally advanced, meaning that something should be done in this regard. Here, we’re talking about what the country could do to prepare its people and itself – digital literacy-wise – in entering the digital age.
Digital literacy might sound simple and not in any way significant for anything, but here’s the thing: we cannot deny that technologies are changing faster than ever – faster than our society. Perhaps a little bit too fast. What I mean by that is when people (that’s me, you, and everybody around us) haven’t changed much in the last – let’s say – five years, the technologies we use have been drastically transformed. Surely with this in mind, it is perhaps best for our people to adapt to this shift to get as many benefits from the advancements as possible. Eventually, this results in the need for a new kind of productivity – one that is more advanced. In the older days, teaching students to type quickly was considered a good-enough digital training. The job market sets the standards much higher these days though, requiring capabilities in things such as word-processing, using productivity software, programming, digital graphics and design, and online marketing and branding, just to name a few. These skills are not just ‘optional extras’ now; they are the new fundamentals.[ii] This is where digital literacy comes in; and since it is a skill, teaching it to students through the pre-existing education system might just be the saviour.
We can most probably agree that digital literacy is not Indonesia’s forte. With around 55 million students, 3 million teachers and more than 236,000 schools in 500 districts, Indonesia has the fourth-largest education system in the world.[iii] However, about 90,000 of the 208,000 primary and secondary schools in Indonesia operate without Internet connectivity, while 17,000 operate without electricity as reported by The Jakarta Post.[iv] This shows the lack of Indonesia’s capability in injecting digital literacy to its people, especially compared to even its neighbors. In 2014, the government of Thailand launched the Technology Master Plan for Education, which is the country’s national plan to increase student access to digital learning. In Malaysia, since 2001, the government has invested heavily in computerization and training teachers to use ICT in classrooms. One result has been Malaysia being among the region’s early movers for online education. Today, Malaysia’s biggest e-learning institution, the Open University of Malaysia, has over 100,000 enrolled students.[v]
It would be great if, in Indonesia, all schools here could put digital literacy as one of their priorities because that would bring students into the current digital age properly. It is indeed unfortunate that even thousands of schools still don’t have electricity, meaning that reaching digital literacy for children studying there is still a very long way away. Moreover, people apparently are becoming more aware of the potential digital literacy can bring to the table. A TechinAsia article written by Annie Teh quoted Ahmad Zaky, the CEO of Bukalapak (Indonesia’s biggest C2C platform) saying “I believe that our future lies on the Internet, and we need to educate more of Indonesians to become digitally literate.”[vi] The man has a fair point, minding his success in building an e-commerce empire. The point is that digital means of activities can help increase productivity because of how potentially efficient they are to work with, and if people are digitally illiterate – meaning that they cannot fully utilize modern technologies properly – they could soon be blown out of the water.
In short, bearing in mind how fast technologies are evolving requires us to try to keep up with it. The digital age is going to be bigger in the future, meaning that if we cannot adapt well to it, problems in different shapes and sizes may come. One key weapon that we can use is digital literacy – the way we can utilize digitalized processes of information – because this is what enables us to ‘move on’ towards more technologically-advanced means of things. However, looking at Indonesia, it seems like digital literacy is not yet a thing. In these times where being digitally literate is important, thousands of schools (where digital literacy can be taught) still don’t have the internet or even electricity. Changing this, however it could be done, may open the opportunity for Indonesia to be an amazing contender in the digital world in the future. It will take a while, and we must put our backs into it.
[i] Cornell University Digital Literacy Resource. What is Digital Literacy?. [online] Available at: https://digitalliteracy.cornell.edu/welcome/dpl0000.html [Accessed 8 Aug. 2017].
[ii] Soefijanto, T. (2015). Digital literacy: A growing demand. [online] The Jakarta Post. Available at: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/06/03/digital-literacy-a-growing-demand.html [Accessed 11 Aug. 2017].
[iii] The Economist. (2014). Schools in Indonesia. [online] Available at: https://www.economist.com/news/asia/21636098-indonesias-schools-are-lousy-new-administration-wants-fix-them-schools [Accessed 9 Aug. 2017].
[iv] Soefijanto, T. (2015). Digital literacy: A growing demand. [online] The Jakarta Post. Available at: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/06/03/digital-literacy-a-growing-demand.html [Accessed 9 Aug. 2017].
[v] Soefijanto, T. (2015). Digital literacy: A growing demand. [online] The Jakarta Post. Available at: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/06/03/digital-literacy-a-growing-demand.html [Accessed 12 Aug. 2017].
[vi] Teh, A. (2016). Bukalapak’s CEO: Indonesia needs more digital literacy. [online] TechinAsia. Available at: https://www.techinasia.com/bukalapak-indonesia-digital-literacy [Accessed 9 Aug. 2017].
Heading picture is taken from pexels.com
