By Lyna Mohamad & Azrol Azmi

Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Education speaking during the opening of the 5th UBD Information Week yesterday. - AZROL AZMI

These initiatives are in line with the vision of the New Education System of the 21st Century that aims to transform the Sultanate's education system through the adoption of ICT in teaching and learning.

This observation was made by the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Education, Dato Paduka Sheikh Hj Adnan Sheikh Mohamed, during the opening of the 5th UBD Information Week yesterday.

According to him, education, knowledge and information are considered to be the most important ingredients for success in this digital age.

In light of this, ensuring seamless access to pertinent and contextually relevant information for the nation's stakeholders is key to "knowledge generation and knowledge management for social and intellectual development", he said.

As it is a prerequisite of the 21st century to be information literate, it is imperative that all education officers, lecturers, teachers and students in Brunei are able to "identify information needs, locate and retrieve information, evaluate it and present it to others", he said.

This year's UBD Information Week is indeed timely, as it shows that UBD library recognises that information resources, as well as its management and dissemination, are constantly and rapidly evolving.

"The advancement of computer technology and sophistication of information management and dissemination techniques has created a major transformation in information management and its accessibility, and libraries are faced with the challenges of integrating the traditional into the emerging information paradigm," Dato Paduka Sheikh Hj Adnan said.

In the past, electronic resource was not meant for end-user searching and was instead carried out by librarians as intermediaries. However, technological advancement has brought about vast changes.

Present and future generations are the beneficiaries of the new technological approaches, and it is vital for them to keep abreast of the ever-evolving technological developments.

"With the availability of 16 quality resources made available through the Ministry of Education Network of Information System for students, lecturers and researchers, it is now the responsibility of everyone in our national education system to fully utilise these resources and integrate them with the current content and methodologies," he said, adding that there should be a platform to stimulate research and innovation.

The permanent secretary also hopes to see Brunei's teachers and lecturers undertaking extensive research and publishing their findings in journals and other publications.

"This is just the beginning of a more resourceful and interesting teaching and learning experience for the education communities, as more facilities and systems will be made available through our e-initiatives," Dato Paduka Sheikh Hj Adnan said, adding that the Ministry of Education through the ICT Department will be embarking on a number of e-initiatives such as the e-Learning System, Knowledge Management System, School Network Infrastructure and School Management System.

He stressed that it was "high time" for teachers to equip themselves with the knowledge and skills to use ICT, as this would help narrow the digital divide in the community and help create a knowledge-based society as envisioned in the nation's long-term development plan.

"The availability of these information resources through our portal will provide more sources and avenues to enhance (teachers' skills in) teaching and as for students, these resources will further reinforce their research skills and enrich their creative thinking," he said.

Schools need to look at introducing information literacy or information searching skills among their students, he added.

It is the Ministry of Education's hope that its investments in acquiring these resources will reap good returns not just financially, but also lead to a wider knowledge base for its stakeholders such as teachers, students and researchers.