Universiti Utara Malaysia (ITU-UUM)
Balik Pulau / Pulau Pinang, Malaysia, 2014, April 24
In Malaysia, the International Girls in ICT Day was celebrated on 24th April. The event was organized by the International Telecommunication Union, Universiti Utara Malaysia Asia Pacific Centre of Excellence for Rural ICT Development (ITU-UUM ASP CoE) with support from the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) Northern Region, Parliament Balik Pulau , Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC) & Pusat Internet 1 Malaysia.
The event was hosted at Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Pondok Upeh and was attended by female students from 2 schools: the host school, Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Pondok Upeh & Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Seri Balik Pulau. The one-day programme comprised various activities for the edification of over 261 female students. The event was officiated by Mdm. Hajah Zaimah A.Latif, principal of Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Pondok Upeh and the guest of honour was Mr. Ismail Kassim, Special Officer to the Balik Pulau member of Parliament.
Among the activities were a series of talks. Dr. Sohibatun Nur Abdul Salam, a senior lecturer at UUM presented a talk on Augmented Reality which exposed the students to the new application in ICT. Mdm.Tunku Azela Tunku Aziz, Head of Programme Management, Digital Malaysia Youth Cluster; Mdm. Nur Balkis Amairuddin, Senior Executive of Programme Management for Youth from the Multimedia Development Corporation (MDec) and the representative for ICT entrepreneurs, Mdm. Liyana Abdul Latif, Co-Founder of Joota talked about ICT Entrepreneur & MDeC. Prof. Dr. Zulikha Jamaluddin of UUM gave a talk on Women and Career in ICT. This was followed by a talk on online ethics and safety by Mdm. Nurul Elani Rashid, the Manager of Rural Internet Centre, Yan, Kedah. The talks ended with ICT Quizzes.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mohd Syazwan Abdullah, the Director of ITU-UUM believes that Girls in ICT Day celebration is an important event as women are important in the global workforce and they greatly contribute to the economic growth of their nation.
The Deputy Director of ITU-UUM, Dr Azizi Ab Aziz, who headed the committee noted that 'Girls in ICT Day' programme would be duly appreciated as another invaluable contribution by ITU-UUM to the nation by way of raising consciousness among the people concerning the importance of ICT to national development, cautioning them against ICT abuses, and educating them about the rapid advancements and career prospects in this field.
The event received positive feedback from the students, who felt really excited to be among the ICT experts in the future. The event was closed by thanking all the sponsors and encouraging the girls to continue exploring the opportunities in the ICT field.
