Importance of ICT Masterplans in Education

From 1997 to 2014, Singapore’s education system would have seen a transition through three Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Masterplans. In this globalized age, the importance of integrating ICT into our students’ syllabus has never been more recognized. Nowadays, the younger generation is adopting computers at a much earlier age and is able to access a whole lot more information than before. The Ministry of Education’s (MOE) crucial role in the ICT Masterplans ensures that our students are reminded and guided on how to be knowledgeable, discerning and more importantly, responsible IT users.

            Equipped with comprehensive ICT facilities, every school is the most conducive place for students to either begin their journey of IT literacy or hone their skills. Unlike conventional subjects, computer and IT skills are not what parents or private tutors can coach their children on at home. Furthermore, as highlighted before, our children are very likely to be more experienced IT users than their parents. Although all students are currently encouraged to have a personal computer at home, the reality is that there are still some financial strapped families who cannot afford such a ‘luxury item’. Thus the school becomes the ideal place for these students to keep up with the computer age

The role of the ICT teachers is to instill the much required passion and interest in students to keep up with ICT through continuous learning. As a result, students should be able recognize that these skills are not only essential at their current stage of studies and project work, but also later on in life when they embark on their professional career. It is usually in schools where students become aware about cybercrime and learn to be able to sieve out useful information for themselves, in so doing grow up to be proper users of the Internet. Teaching responsible usage of the World Wide Web facilitates students in going beyond the four walls of the classroom and gaining access to knowledge that teachers and textbooks cannot impart.

These fourteen years of implementing ICT in the curriculum have witnessed much progress. One notable achievement is that students from all schools can now embark on e-learning or i-learning in the comfort of their own homes. During the school holidays, this provides a lot of convenience for students and teachers alike in the dissemination of homework. Such a self-learning mode also teaches our students to take ownership for their own learning, thus encouraging them to be independent learners. In 2003, the SARS outbreak put e-learning in schools to test, as all lessons were disrupted indefinitely. At the end of the day, this daunting crisis proved not only the success of ICT integration but also the foresight of MOE in introducing ICT in the first place.