Local Man Writes ICT Book To Keep Brunei In Race
By Rosli Abidin Yahya

Bandar Seri Begawan - His overwhelming desire to see Brunei would be included in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) race has prompted a local man, Hj Kamsani bin Hj Ahmad, an Institut Teknologi Brunei (ITB) lecturer to devote three years in research and development in producing computer books for students.

He believed the ability to bridge the ICT divide lies in the hands of the young people of the country, mainly the primary students.

A properly devised curriculum for the primary school students in ICT would ensure that the younger students be interested in ICT and thus would help bring the nation to come to terms with the world ICT elites.

"My main objective in authoring the ICT books is to contribute to the ICT national development. Without initiative the nation would drop out from the ICT race and we would fall behind in ICT development, vital to any nation of the world.

"I have spent a lot of time and money in producing the book and its up to the government and parents to use the book to train the younger generation," he said at the introduction session of An Easy Guide to ICT level 6 book, a publication he wrote for the primary 6 students at the De Heritage Information and Training School in Kiulap. Previously he had written ICT books for primary 1 to primary 5.

"I definitely need sponsors in the future as I do not enough means to support ICT training for free."

The latest book comes complete with CDs comprising of the various subjects offered at the Penilaian Sekolah Rendah (PSR) or primary 6.

The level 1 to 6 books had been introduced to private school students and his next target would be the government schools.

"I am hoping I would get similar receptions from the government schools otherwise they would be left out as the private schools had taken the opportunity in wider scale," he said adding interested government school can contact De Heritage for details.

De Heritage trainers said the books, level 1 to 6, are so user-friendly that teachers do not need to prepare teaching materials, syllabuses and guidelines because the books came with interactive CDs. Flash cards are also included for teaching at the lower primary.

"We see the books as very helpful and convenient for teachers. Students will find them interesting and learning ICT would be more exciting the students. Furthermore the books are written by a local expert who knows the need of the local population," they said.

Hj Kamsani's parent, Hj Ahmad and Pg Hj Zainab said they specifically groomed and trained Hj Kamsani into an ICT expert. Six of his children went for further studies in UK in different fields such as mechanical engineering, electrical engineering and water engineering.

"We groomed another sibling as a religious person," he said adding that to groom a child needs total cooperation of parents to alter their mental state into liking a particular subject.

The level 1 to 6 books covers a wide area of ICT such as PC hardware and software, multimedia, computer network, word processing, spreadsheet, presentation, database, webpage, graphic, CBT, WBT, publishing and programming.

He is currently writing ICT books for form 1 to form 5 and form 6 students. (Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin)

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