Indonesia’s Ministry of Communication and Information proposed an indicative ceiling increase for the fiscal year 2020.
According to a recent press release, the increase is allocated for Human Resource Development and Digital Literacy as well as Information and Communications Technology (ICT) infrastructure development.
Human Resources and Digital Skills
The largest portion will be used to provide training scholarships for 50,000 digital talents via the Digital Talent Scholarship (DTS) in 2020.
According to the Minister, they will be increasing the target of talents from 25,000 to 50,000 next year. In order to reach that goal, they are increasing the budget for 2020 to IDR 421 billion (US$ 29.8 million).
In the working meeting that discussed the Budget Work Plan and the Ministry of Communication and Information Work Plan for the fiscal year 2020, the Minister explained that the increase in the quota of participants for the DTS was due to the high interest of registrants.
Moreover, they also need a large number of or people skilled in the digital fields for the future of work and the advancement in technology.
The material that they are using in the training covers the technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
Being equipped with the proper skills would help and prepare the participants as they enter employment.
Allocation of ICT Infrastructure
The Ministry also supports the filing of the budget to increase the capacity of digital transmission capabilities by TV Republik Indonesia (TVRI), the state-owned public-broadcasting TV network.
According to Minister Rudiantara, program allocations are required for programs that have added value.
Furthermore, the Minister shared that there is a budget allocation for the preparation of 5G services as the coming year, 2020, will be coloured with preparations for the new tech.
A portion of the additional budget will also be allocated for the Directorate General of Information Applications, which will prepare the government’s data centre infrastructure.
The Government also has other plans in the pipeline for 2020. This includes the National Sports Week and the National Paralympic Week, which will be held in Papua.
OpenGov Asia recently reported on Digital Talent Scholarships to boost Indonesia’s skilled HR.
The Gadjah Mada University opened 450 scholarships for those in their final year, or have just graduated, to choose one of the three digital fields of interest for their training.
These fields include artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), and cybersecurity. These three have the most demand as digital industry players need them the most.
The 450 digital talent scholarships are part of the Ministry of Communication and Information’s initiative, which had already provided a total of 25,000 scholarships involving 30 partner universities, 23 polytechnics and 4 international certification bodies.
