KUCHING: Children must be encouraged to explore new tools and acquire new skills instead of limiting them to one that is considered popular, in order to prepare them for the ever changing digital world.
Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) Women chief Kho Teck Wan said the Sarawak government was purchasing Raspberry Pi computers to assist students in their virtual learning.
“Education, Science and Technological Research Minister Datuk Amar Michael Manyin Jawong never stated that our students will no longer learn Windows or Microsoft Office after only a few addition of Raspberry Pi computers.
“The Raspberry Pi is designed originally for young children interested in creating websites. The beauty of Raspberry Pi lies in its low cost and wide selection of open source fun projects that can be downloaded such as creating a website, games, robots, and 3D printing projects for children. Pi4 will add fun to the learning of science and technology,” Kho elaborated.
She said this in a statement on Friday (Nov 27), in response to Bandar Kuching MP Dr Kelvin Yii’s statement that the Raspberry Pi 4 was not a full fledged Windows or Mac computer and that the students should learn Microsoft Office Tools.
On Dr Yii’s claim that the cost of the Raspberry Pi was inflated, Kho said no Information Technology (IT) gadget would still cost the same after shipping, hardware maintenance, warranty, training and software support included in the purchase.
“Dr Yii may not have any experience deploying technology solution in urban or rural area. The fact is almost all technology solution deployment will need some technical training, maintenance, hardware warranty, and logistics planning. And these efforts are included into the purchase price of the solution.”
She also implied that Dr Yii’s justification was of no one’s interest when he said the technical part of Raspberry Pi, which runs on Raspbian Operating System (OS), was complicated for teachers and most Windows or Mac users.
“Unless someone is in technical support line, why would anyone care to know how complicated the Raspbian OS is? Most of us don’t know how the car engine works, and don’t know how to repair a car, but we can still drive the car.
“Most Samsung phone users don’t know how complicated the Android OS works on their phone. They just need to know how to use the phone. The same applies to computers.
“Hence, Dr Yii either tried to mislead the public with his overly concerned statement or he doesn’t even know what he is talking about. He need not worry Sarawakians with how complicated the Raspbian OS is, because most students will only need to know how to use the computer.”
She also mentioned that the state’s resources and energy should not be focusing on the argument of what device to use, but the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) syllabus that is effective in encouraging the learning of the subjects.
“What I would like to see is how our STEM teachers can fully utilise the flexibility of Pi4 to create fun computer programmes and projects for our primary school children.”
