IT projects help reduce poverty through education
Indra Harsaputra, The Jakarta Post/Surabaya
Mohammad Khotim, 19, who runs the e-Pabelan IT Center at the Pabelan Mungkid Islamic boarding school in Magelang, Central Java, was thrilled after winning second place in a nationwide Information and Communications Technology competition organized by Microsoft.
Amazingly, prior to the establishment of the e-Pabelan IT Center pilot project on Aug. 23, 2004, Mohammad knew next to nothing about computers.
"I learned a lot about computers and their operation after the IT Center was set up," he told The Jakarta Post on the sidelines of a seminar in Surabaya organized by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).
The e-Pabelan IT Center is housed in a seven-by-twelve meter room in one of the buildings of the Pabelan Islamic boarding school, which is run by preacher Ahmad Najib. The center was established jointly by the National Development Planning Board (Bappenas) and the UNDP.
Khotib, a junior high school teacher since 2004, beat the other 150 participants in the competition in the compact disc creation category. The topic he chose was Arabic-language teaching using Microsoft PowerPoint. Besides receiving a cash prize of Rp 5 million (US$500), Khotib won a place on a computer training course in South Korea in August sponsored by Microsoft.
Khotib says he spent the cash prize on a computer that he will use to train students and to set up a graphic-design business in his hometown.
"I have gathered a few young people, and right now we are learning to design a number of products, such as visiting and greeting cards. I want to set up my own business," he said.
Khotib will use the proceeds from the business to help his parents pay for his education at the Information and Management Institute in Yogyakarta, where he hopes to major in IT.
"I am now taking part in the orientation program for new students. I want to become a computer programmer after I graduate," he told the Post before performing noon prayers.
Khotib, who lives in a village near Semarang, is not the only one who has benefited from the IT Center program. Many other villagers have also benefited.
A similar IT Center has been set up in Kertosari village in Pasrujambe district, Lumajang regency, located about 150 kilometers from Surabaya, and forms part of a pilot project that involves Central Java, East Java, North Sulawesi, Central Sulawesi, Gorontalo and Papua. In Kertosari, the IT Center has been operating since May 30 in a 13 meter-by-6.5-meter building that has a capacity of 40 people. It has been named the Semeru IT Center after the highest mountain in East Java.
The center's manager, Sahlan Basyar, said that the facility had helped introduce computers and modern technology to the villagers. Kertosari is designated a disadvantaged rural area by the East Java administration and most local people have only graduated from elementary or junior high school, and depend on agriculture for their livelihoods.
However, the area has managed to reduce the poverty rate to around 24 percent this year. There were 418 people categorized as indigent in 2001. This figure gradually dropped to 316 in June, 2005, thanks to the work of the Gardutaskin Tani Sejahtera Financial Management Unit (UPK).
Sahlan said that hopefully the presence of the IT Center would further help reduce poverty in the area. Farmers can now exchange information through the Internet with their peers in Batu, Malang, on how to cultivate sensivera, an ornamental plant for which there is high demand on the export market.
UNDP Knowledge Management and Communication Officer Dinar Pandan Sari also voiced optimism that the IT Center program could reduce poverty, illiteracy and the size of the technology gap.