KUALA LUMPUR(Nov 6): AirAsia X Bhd chairman Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz said information and communications technology (ICT) education should begin at early education levels and not at higher education levels in the era of disruptive technology.
“In the school system, ask ourselves, are we prepared to let our secondary school students to migrate to the broader spectrum of ICT, if they haven’t got the [basics] in school.
“So that’s where we must start, if our education system is not ready for that let’s not kid ourselves, it won’t happen, and let’s be honest with ourselves, the world is going that way, let’s not be torn or distracted by side issues—religious teachings, moral teachings or whatever, that always happens anyway, let’s not make that a focus
“Or the national language given priority, nobody cares in the world about anybody’s national language, it is about computing language, ICT language that’s what we should be teaching people,
“This is where the public sector and the private sector needs to collaborate,” she told reporters at a news conference today in conjunction with the 29th Asian-Pacific Conference on International Accounting Issues 2017, at which she was a keynote speaker.
On the country’s aspirations to have 60,000 accountants by the year 2020, from the current 33,000, the country should look past just having targets, Rafidah — who is also Malaysia’s former minister of trade and international industry — said.
“Let’s stop aiming for things, let’s have quality people..if this 33,000 accountants are well equipped with [ICT] knowledge, they can do the work of 60,000 people.
“Job creation is not just about numbers anymore, its about the quality of people [hired],” she said.
On accounting fraud, which still exists among corporate Malaysia today, Rafidah said it all boiled down to the “human factor”.
“If you put a fraudster anywhere, it will happen, you can have the best ICT programmes in place, but if the guy behind it has the intention to [commit] fraud, it will happen.
“So again, this needs to be [cultivated] in our education system, don’t just teach [students] the ICT programmes, teach them values,” she said.