During a panel entitled “Championing child rights in the digital age”, hosted by Unicef and Digi Telecommunications Sdn Bhd, Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) vice-president Sumitra Nair said that a poor understanding of the opportunities provided by technology is something the agency has seen in rural areas for the last seven or eight years.
“Yes, one problem is a lack of devices. However, even if they do have access, it appears to be more in terms of consuming content on these devices rather than creating or thinking about solving problems.
“This is what is going to define and prepare them for future jobs,” she said.
She added that this will be particularly important as more industries begin to employ technology in creative and varied ways.
“When you learn to make things, that’s when you get creative, and begin to look at harnessing digital technology to solve problems,” she said, adding that it was the motivator behind MDEC’s mydigitalmaker programme.
According to Sumitra, as simpler tasks become automated via machine learning, artificial intelligence and robotics, more creative jobs will be in demand, requiring digital literacy and critical thinking skills.
On the topic of child safety online, panellists implored parents to engage with their children on finding ways to navigate the digital world rather than taking extreme measures.
“Parents are not on top of the issue when it comes to the use of the internet by their children. They believe that restricting access to the internet is the only solution to protect their children.
“This is absolutely not true,” said Rashed Mustafa Sarwar, Unicef Representative to Malaysia and Special Representative to Brunei Darussalam.
“If a child faces any bullying or threat in cyberspace, the parents should know about it, and they should discuss it. This engagement with the child should not be as an object, but as a subject.”
Manisha Dogra, Telenor vice-president and head of sustainability Asia external relations, agreed that children must not be hidden from online threats, but instead be given the skills to recognise and tackle harms and risks of the online world.
“It is equally important that this knowledge about online safety is not limited to children, but also their immediate ecosystem, like their parents, teachers and caregivers.
“The virtual world is as ‘real’ as our real world. Things that are said, or how one acts, has equal amount of harm as it would in the real world,” she said.