IT projects help reduce poverty through education

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.