Investment in bandwidth crucial for Brunei
AZAMRI ZAINAL
BRUNEI-MUARA
Friday, October 21, 2011
INVESTMENT in bandwidth has been touted as a critical factor as Brunei pushes for its e-Hijrah education system.
This was the advice of Neil Jackson (pic), the Asia Pacific Regional Education Director (public sector) of Microsoft Corporation, who praised government efforts to move forward implementing the ‘E-Hijrah’ education system.
In an Interview with The Brunei Times, he highlighted some of the challenges that Brunei might face in implementing the new system successfully. “The challenge for Brunei are in terms of bandwidth connection. We would abdicate for more investments in communications technology because the available bandwidth in Brunei can be a limiting factor for student learning.”
“I think the E-Hijrah and SPN 21 is good because not only are they looking at devices, but also infrastructure to support schooling and cloud based infrastructure, as well as developing the teachers who will deliver the new curriculum and content to Bruneian students,” said Jackson.
The Regional Director was in the Sultanate yesterday to attend the Think Big 2011 event, and gave a presentation under the topic, ‘How Can We Use ICT as a Driver for Innovation and Organisational Excellence?’
“In terms of our role in Microsoft, we believe that great innovations can be accelerated when students are trained at an early age. Funding in Brunei is not a problem, but Brunei needs to keep minds, hearts, and eyes open to other countries’ one to one technology particularly in countries like Australia and United States,” he said.
Elsewhere during the forum, Minister of Communications Pehin Orang Kaya Hamzah Pahlawan Dato Seri Setia Hj Abdullah Begawan Mudim Dato Paduka Hj Bakar, highlighted that Brunei Darussalam will be addressing the connectivity issue, with Singapore being used as the benchmark for their broadband network.
The E-Hijrah strategy envisions on producing ICT Savvy 21st Century Bruneians, and that are strongly informed about the Brunei Darussalam’s Malay Islamic Monarchy (MIB) traditions and values.
The Ministry of Education aims to reach their E-Hijrah strategy, which are closely linked to the government’s ‘Wawasan 2035’ vision, by the year 2017.
The Brunei Times