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You would think that in this day and age that we Filipinos have come
to be a technology savvy people. With the all the text messaging
that has put us on the world map as the Mecca for short message
sending, does this mean we have finally overcome our fear of
learning technology? Apparently not.
Reuel Virtucio of STI College’s iAcademy is
very aware of the situation in the Philippines. Based on their
recent statistics, only 14 percent of the Filipino population are
fully computer literate. This brings about concerns when the average
global standard is 21 percent of the population. Malaysia, one of
our closest Asian neighbors boasts 60 percent of its population is
computer literate. One wonders why we lag behind in this age of text
messages and camera phones.
There are a number of assumptions that one can
come up with as to why computers are still not being utilized. One
conclusion is that majority of the Filipino population cannot afford
a basic computer. Virtucio claims that there is still fear and a
reluctance to learn.
The computer still seems to be an intimidating
vision for a lot of Filipinos, especially those of the older
generation. When information technology started to be more common in
the work place, not all business owners and bosses took a hands-on
approach to the technology.
Information technology can literally be seen as
having a language of its own, one that many are unable to speak and
understand which keeps them from joining the global economy. Our
country alone has 171 living languages from different regions and
provinces. We already have an innate cultural bias against Filipino
dialects which are not from our own home town. What more if the
language is often untranslatable into any of our known dialects? How
does one translate the words “scroll” or “operating system”
or even “reboot” into any Filipino language? This results in
reluctance and fear to learn the language.
This is being addressed by iAcademy by
introducing technology awareness via radio media starting June 7.
Mr. Virtucio, along with Ms. Erlinda P. Quijano of Creative Answers
Consultancy, are embarking on a radio program on DWIZ called All
About IT. They will create awareness about the advantages
information technology for the public.
Virtucio’s formula for economic growth for the
Philippines relies heavily on more Filipinos learning information
technology. It will open job opportunities and basically the world
to many.
The challenge is very clear. They will have to
literally “talk” their way into the hearts of the Filipino
people to get the public to go to their local internet café and not
be scared of the mouse and chatting online. What could be healthier?
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