DPR Commission X urges teachers to continually enhance digital skills

Dynamic societal conditions demand policies that adapt to technological developments, so teachers must have the skills to teach children, said Hetifah Sjaifudian in Samarinda on Friday. Hetifah, who chairs Commission X of the Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR RI), which has oversight in education, culture, research, youth, and sports, stressed that the provision of school facilities must be accompanied by preparation of human resources (HR). According to her, policy innovations such as distributing Digital Interactive Whiteboard devices (PID) would be futile and unused if not followed by socialisation and technical training for teachers. In response to this, the East Kalimantan Education and Culture Office (Disdikbud) continues to push digital transformation to create a more modern learning ecosystem. The head of the UPTD for Educational Technology and Information (UPTD Teknologi Komunikasi dan Informasi Pendidikan) at Disdikbud Kaltim, Muchamad Awaludin, said they had conducted socialisation and intensive training on the use of the Rumah Pendidikan platform online. The integrated application owned by the Ministry of Education, Primary and Secondary Education (Kemendikdasmen) is designed specifically to unite various educational services into a single gateway. Participants who had been trained included teachers at the Senior High School (SMA), Vocational High School (SMK), and SLB levels; they were not only introduced to the government platform but were also equipped with skills to operate Google Workspace and Canva. Awaludin reminded of the importance of optimising government-supplied hardware, as advanced technology will not have a major impact without users’ creativity.