Developing Human Capital for National Development

Leapfrogging from a developing nation status to one that is fully developed by 2020 is the ‘futural role imagery’ of most Malaysians ever since the Malaysian government laid out its bold Vision 2020 national development blueprint in the 1990s. Central to the attainment of this vision is the provision of world-class information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure and the creation of an excellent human capital base that is skilled, knowledgeable, flexible and mobile. To this end, the Malaysian government embarked on the Smart School Initiative, a flagship application of the MSC Malaysia project that aims to transform the way students are being schooled. The smart school pilot project was implemented in 88 schools across the country which saw these schools being fitted and equipped with ICT infrastructure, educational courseware and radical changes in its teaching-learning practices. This chapter provides an overview of the smart school project and highlights some of the issues encountered in the pilot phase. The lessons learned from the smart school pilot project is an invaluable resource to education policy makers, administrators and the school community in other countries intending to introduce an ICT-infused curriculum in schools. It is discovered that a balanced development of all smart school components - ICT infrastructure deployment and maintenance, connectivity, school management system, educational courseware development, teacher development and continuous training is needed to create a smarter learning environment for effective human capital development.