All MIPR staff to become 'IT-smart'

ALL of the Ministry of Industry and Primary Resources' (MIPR) more than 2,000 employees will undergo basic training to become "IT-smart" in the coming new year, officials announced yesterday.

Speaking at the launch of MIPR's new website and Facebook page at the ministry's headquarters yesterday, Minister Pehin Orang Kaya Seri Utama Dato Seri Setia Hj Yahya Begawan Mudim Dato Paduka Hj Bakar said the initiative was part of the ministry's preparations towards the full utilisation of the Government Employee Management System (GEMS), which began implementation at the ministry this October.

"This ministry needs to (make full) use of the information technology (IT) system that has been made available through huge investments," the minister said, elaborating that the provision of such facilities were to assist the ministry in carrying out its functions and attending to its customers' needs more effectively.

Pehin Dato Hj Yahya anticipated that the training of the staff to become IT-savvy, among the ministry's other initiatives, would become an "indicator" of the ministry's efforts to improve the quality of its delivery of service.

The initiative will be carried out by the ministry's Information Management Unit together with the Human Resources Management Unit.

Citing ministry records, MIPR's Acting System Manager and Chief Technical Officer (CTO) Hjh Noor Airah Hj Abd Rahman said that as of January 2010, there were some 2,276 people employed at MIPR.

"It's small, (and thus,) achievable but we need to train them to use basic computer (applications)," she told reporters following the launching ceremony.

"If we don't train them on the basics, they are going to resist (the IT transition)," the CTO said, even describing a "fear" of IT.

As an example of the basic training, it was the ministry's goal to ensure that all its employees were knowledgeable on how to access and operate the ministry's email system.

Hjh Noor Airah explained that this was essential as the e-mail system was needed for the civil servants to access GEMS, in terms of logging on to the attendance system and other internal processes.

"We have to make sure they know how to open e-mail and tell them what's in there for them. What benefits (there are)," she said.

GEMS was introduced in the hopes of modernising the civil service's human resource operations.The Brunei Times