CHILDREN at Kampung Baru Kuala Bikam in Bidor have been spending their evenings learning how to use the computer rather than idling their time away after school.

Since the beginning of this month, the children have been attending free computer lessons at a recently set up computer centre next to the village community hall.

The centre was set up under the Bridging Digital Device-Information Communications Technology (BDD-ICT) programme initiated by the Housing and Local Government Ministry through local councils.

Teacher Chai Chooi Wei, 26, who is giving the lessons, said the 19 pupils she taught enjoyed the classes due to the interactive mode of the software used. “It makes the learning process all the more interesting,” said Chai, a villager herself.

Informative: Chai (centre) teaching the children from Kampung Baru Kuala Bikam how to look for information through the Internet.

“They learn how to gather useful information by surfing educational websites.

“They also learn to type and draw using computer programmes,” she said, adding that the children were taught an hour per week.

Chai added there were also plans to teach adults in the village but said the matter was still being discussed.

Thank you: Razali (second from left) presenting a fruit basket to Chor (second from right). Looking on are Tanjung Malim MCA secretary Goh Kim Swee (left) and Kampung Baru Kuala Bikam Village Security and Development Committee chairman Lim Poh Kuang (right).

Tapah District Council president Razali Bakar said Kampung Baru Kuala Bikam and Taiping were the only two chosen zones in Perak to undergo the programme, expressing hope that the locals there would benefit from it.

Minister Datuk Seri Chor Chee Heung, who opened the centre last Sunday, said he hoped the programme could reach out to more communities in the near future.

“I would like to introduce the programme to rural Malay villages and those in Sabah and Sarawak,” he said, adding that he would bring up the matter with Rural and Regional Development Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal.

-The Star-