VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The Communication and Informatics Ministry launched the Digital Talent Scholarship (DTS) 2022 in Central Java on Wednesday (Jan 26, 2022). ANTARA/HO-Kemenkominfo/am - 

Link and match digital talents are important to fulfill the human resources demand to support the Electronic-Based Government System (SPBE) or E-government, National Information and Communication Technology Council (Wantiknas) member Zainal A. Hasibuan stated.

"It is time for Indonesia to respond effectively to the talent search in accordance with the work market demand system (link and match)," he noted through a press statement on Saturday.

"A gap still exists between the education and business world," he pointed out.

Hasibuan, concurrently the Informatics and Computer High Education Association's (APTIKOM's) chairman, pressed for the country to have its own method to enhance link and match.

"Educators still dominate over students," he highlighted.

Moreover, Hasibuan opined that the current root cause of the problem is that lecturers have not yet kept up with the changing times in the digital era when it comes to education materials.

In addition, students had yet to acclimatize to a proactive learning system with problem solving, project-based learning, and research-based learning.

Lastly, there is also a lack of facilities to support skill sets for the digital era and inadequate infrastructure to support collaborative learning and teamwork.

Hasibuan believes that the solutions for this are not new while calling to strengthen the development of human resources, empower the digital transformation policy as the SPBE human resources' playing field, and encourage universities to produce digital talents on a massive scale.

In addition, others measures encompass fully supporting the Merdeka Belajar-Kampus Merdeka (Freedom in Learning and Campus), implementing computational thinking-based learning starting from an early age in universities, and complementing diploma with competence certification.

Responding to the World Economic Forum's projection that five years from now, machines will replace half of the existing jobs, Hasibuan remarked that whatever types of job currently exist, new skills are still necessary to stay competitive.

"Digital talent or digital skill is a new skill set. Let us align our perception. In simple terms, digital talent is a person's capability to adapt to digital technology," he explained.

It is also the ability to gain an understanding of the existence of the 4.0 Industrial Revolution technology, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Blockchain, Internet of Things (IoT), Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), 3D Printing, Drones, and Robotics.

"We may not be capable of mastering all technologies, but at the very least, based on our ability, there is at least one or two technologies that we could rely on," he affirmed//ANT