Remote Sarawak school charts road to cyberfame

ROLAND SATU UKAB will retire this year but he still has one wish to fulfil before the retirement date.

The headmaster of Sekolah Kebangsaan (SK) Long Napir wants to expose the pupils of the school, situated in one of the remotest areas in the Limbang Division, Sarawak, to the outside world, at least virtually.

He is even thinking a step further to introduce Long Napir to the world through the school's web page.

Located about 100km away from the bustling Limbang town, students of SK Long Napir don't enjoy the level of facilities like their counterparts in towns. Yet that did not deter Roland from charting the road to the cyber world.

"The environment where the students live is different from those in the urban area but we don't want them to be left out," Roland said.

The school has 96 students 76 are from the Penan community while the remaining from the Kelabit community.

Established in 1960, SK Long Napir initially took in children from the Kelabit community only because the majority of the Penans then were still practicing a nomadic life with education last on their list.

Nevertheless, all that has changed and Roland is certain that the cyber age will revolutionise the lives of the rural people like how it revolutionised the education field.

SK Long Napir first came in contact with Information Technology about five years ago when the school received 10 desktops and six laptops with software to study science and mathematics. Yet, the digital divide remained as there was no Internet access and, worst still, the school's power supply was so limited that at any one time only six computers could be used.

However, the problem did not go unnoticed and new generators will be installed soon to allow 24-hour electricity supply and a Very Small ApertureTerminal (VSAT) will be installed to provide access to Internet via satellite. Round-the-clock electricity supply and the VSAT will certainly help Roland to chart the next big step for this rural primary school, to have its own website.

While SK Napir's dream is no big deal for schools in town, the rural school's far-sighted undertaking is commendable. Once the school children in Long Napir could go online, the amount of knowledge that they could gather is enormous.

"It would not be sufficient just by asking the children to learn about other places featured on the internet. It is better if they could tell the world of what we have at Long Napir," he said.

"Perhaps with the assistance from the teachers and everyone, we could also do some kind of online twinning programmes with schools in other countries — but with the approval, of course," he added.

If Roland's dream is fulfilled, it not only augurs well for SK Napir's students but also introduces to the world the lives of people in this rural outback. Bernama