The event entitled Digital Literacy: Digital Skills for the Communities was one activity in the framework of the Vietnam International Digital Week in Hanoi.
According to Trieu Minh Long, director of the international cooperation department under the MIC, enhancing people’s digital skills is one of the key tasks of the ministry.
He said many measures have been taken for this purpose, one of it is the establishment of community digital technology groups.
Lesley Miller, Deputy Representative of UNICEF in Vietnam, said UNICEF appreciates the Vision to 2030 and targets set in Vietnam’s national digital transformation programme.
She stressed that in the current era, digital literacy has become a basic skill that all people should have. Digital literacy not only means the ability to use computer, but also allows individuals to actively join in information processing, the creation of content and the sharing of knowledge via social media.
The core of digital literacy is supporting the development of a citizen with knowledge and connectivity who is able to adapt to fast changing needs of society, including the labour market, she said.
A survey showed that as of early 2022, nearly 27% of the Vietnamese population still had difficulties with digital connectivity. Many children, especially girls, do not have basic digital skills. Nearly 90% of teachers in remote and far-flung areas said they have never used a modern device in teaching. All those are big hurdles to the universalization of digital skills.
At the conference, international representatives put forth recommendations to promote digital literacy, with an emphasis on the engagement of and clear definition of the role and tasks of State agencies, socio-political organizations, businesses and the media.
Vietnam is implementing a project on universalizing digital skills and development human resources for national digital transformation to 2025 with a vision to 2030. In April this year, the MIC launched an e-learning platform at onetouch.mic.gov.vn.
The country has also launched community digital technology groups to help residents learn digital skills. Between March and October 2022, more than 61,500 such groups were set up with nearly 284,000 members. The MIC and local authorities have held training courses for community digital technology groups in 55 out of 63 provinces and centrally-run cities.
