AIBD and UUM Celebrate “Girls in ICT Day 2013”
On 25 April 2013, Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) in collaboration with AIBD and Ministry of Information, Communications and Culture, Malaysia (MICC) organized a half day event in celebration of this year’s Girls in ICT Day at UUM campus in Sintok, Kedah, Malaysia.
On 25 April 2013, Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) in collaboration with AIBD and Ministry of Information, Communications and Culture, Malaysia (MICC) organized a half day event in celebration of this year’s Girls in ICT Day at UUM campus in Sintok, Kedah, Malaysia.
The event, which is celebrated every year on the fourth Thursday in April, honours girls’ interests and strengths, and encourages them to choose a career in information and communication technologies.
UUM is the International Telecommunication Union (ITU)’s Asia-Pacific Centre of Excellence for Rural ICT Development and AIBD is also ITU’s Asia-Pacific Centre of Excellence. This is the second year that AIBD partnered with UUM in marking Girls in ICT Day.
There were 150 participants who attended the event which consisted of students from secondary school which is Sek. Men. Keb Agama Johor Bharu, Johor, teachers, UUM’s lecturers, staff and students, representative from AIBD, Mr. Rabi K.C, representatives from Pusat Internet 1 Malaysia, representatives from Terengganu state government office and teachers from schools nearby UUM.The event began with the welcoming address by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Wan Rozaini Sheik Osman, Director of ITU-UUM and officiated by Mr. Mohamad Akbar Mahbat, the Senior Secretary for Policy and Communications Sector Management Service from MICC. In his opening speech, Mr. Mohamad Akbar Mahbat said that “currently in this world, there is no doubt that ICT is driving the advancement of women with internet facilities which provide opportunities and facilities for them to spearhead ICT on par with the men in the application of existing facilities through online businesses even it operates from home”
The program continued with two ICT Talks which was presented by Professor Dr. Zulikha Jamaludin, senior lecturer and Professor from UUM and the topic is “User interface for Girls”. She talked about the ICT and how girls can benefit from the ICT. She shared examples with a number of open source applications where gilrs can use those applications to enhance their ICT skills. Meanwhile from Mdm. Siti Huraizah Abdul Rahman, Manager of Rural Internet Centre, Balik Pulau, Pulau Pinang talks on “Women in ICT career”.
The organizer also invited a local singer, Ainan Tasneem who started her hobby and career in singing from the Youtube and is a popular artist in Malaysia now. She performed three of her popular songs to the audiences. Besides that, she also shared her experiences on how she has started her career in singing by using Youtube as an ICT tool or medium.The Programme was followed by a quiz competition on ICT-related questions.
ITU’s ‘Girls in ICT Day’ programme would be duly appreciated as another invaluable contribution by ITU-UUM and AIBD. This is a wonderful initiative for gender mainstreaming and promotion of gender equality. Today, the world is marked by information and communication technology. Use of technology defines each sphere of life. However women and girls participation in ICT is very low. There has always been gender-stereotyping on different types of work. Gender based division of labor is still existing. Hence, this initiative will definately do a remarkable job to motivate women’s participation in ICT.
