The Prime Minster of Malaysia, Dato’ Sri Mohd Najib Bin Tun Haji Abdul Razak today launched #mydigitalmaker movement, an initiative to create a nation of digital makers. This movement in partnership with Ministry of Education (MoE) and the support of private sectors and academia, will expose Malaysian youths to the creative and innovative aspects of digital technology.
This will be done by integrating Computational Thinking and computer science into formal school curriculum; as well as getting industry and universities to help nurture and groom talented young digital makers.
“For most young people, digital technology is an everyday part of life. Many of them are avid consumers of digital media. We want to mobilise this generation of young people with the drive, confidence and know-how, so that they can embrace and be the ‘makers’ of their own technology – be it websites, apps, hardware, games or innovations we have yet to imagine. We believe that this will not only benefit our young people, but also the society and digital economy,” said the Prime Minister Dato’ Sri Mohammad Najib bin Tun Haji Abdul Razak.
Dato’ Yasmin Mahmood, CEO, MDEC said, “Dreams inspire innovation. Malaysia needs more dreamers and innovators. As 90% of all future jobs will require digital competencies, it is important for us to ensure that our upcoming digital workforce are future-proof and well equipped to ride this evolution.”
“#mydigitalmaker movement is a public- private- academia partnership to create a nation of Digital Makers. This movement will transform Malaysian youth from mere digital users to makers in the digital economy by infusing digital competencies into the formal school curriculum and complementing it with co-curricular digital maker activities,” said Dato’ Yasmin.
Starting January 2017, Computational Thinking will be integrated into the new Standard Based Curriculum for Primary (KSSR) and Standard Based Curriculum for Secondary (KSSM) as a part of the agenda spearheaded by the Ministry of Education Malaysia (MoE), and supported by MDEC. This integration will benefit an estimated 1.2 million students from 10,173 schools nationwide next year.
While the curriculum integration will provide students with exposure to the basic concepts and skills of digital making, private sectors and academia have also joined MDEC to continue to nurture and groom Malaysia’s future digital innovators outside of the classroom through the introduction of Digital Maker Clubs in schools and Digital Maker Hubs in communities.
Private sectors are also offering holiday internships, teaching modules, and various trainings and tools to support this agenda.
MDEC calls upon all Malaysians to support its future generation in embracing digital innovation and technology through the MY Digital Maker movement. For more information, kindly visit http://www.mdec.my/mydigitalmaker.