i) The influence of development of information Technology and Communication (ICT)

becomes one of the challenges to the educational system of our country. Discuss the
effects and consequences on parents, schools, teachers and pupils.

In this globalization era, education has become more challenging as compared to the
past. The demands of highly skills and knowledgeable “products” have increased.
Education institutions need to produce students who are creative and innovative, able to
solve problems and think critically. This gives the impression that education is no longer
provides a basic understanding of the 3Rs (reading, writing and arithmetic) to children,
but education must be able to produce people who are knowledgeable and have a
variety of skills to meet the challenges of this century. The digital age is often
associated with the development of Information and Communication Technology (ICT).
Indeed, the government has planned and take steps to change national policy according
to the situation and needs of the intellectual development of literacy and ICT knowledge.
This opportunity is fully utilized by the
Malaysian education ministry which has
spread the use of ICT in schools. Now, ICT
has been widely used in school which has
brought many advantages towards students'
learning. ICT also brings positive impacts to
teachers, schools and parents.

Among the advantages of ICT for teachers is that they can facilitate the production
of teaching materials more efficiently. Teachers can diversify the use of teaching
materials using the resources from the Internet. With a variety of resources, the
teaching and learning process will become more interesting and effective yet can foster
students’ understanding in learning. Teaching and learning techniques such as
multimedia, simulations and group activities are some examples that can be practiced
by using ICT. Moreover, the use of ICT can make the teaching and learning more
effective where teachers can save time to find or develop teaching materials thus saving
teacher’s time in finding teaching materials. ICT also can save the cost of teachers in
preparing teaching materials where the use of materials such as videos, photos and
audio recordings can be reused for the next lesson. However, ICT also has become a
challenge for some teachers in school. Among them there are also teachers who are
worried to use ICT equipment itself. There are teachers, especially senior teachers who
are afraid to touch or use ICT equipment like computer and LCD projector as they fear
that their actions will cause the equipment damage. They are afraid because they feel
that they are incompetent and lacking
in skills in handling the equipment.
Besides that, integrating ICT in
teaching requires a lot of time for
teachers to prepare and get them
ready to be used. Teachers who are
incompetent in the use of ICT find
themselves having difficulties
preparing or setting them before the teaching and learning session in the classroom.
Due to a lot of teaching periods which some teachers have a number of 30 hours per
week, it is difficult for them to prepare and setup the ICT teaching materials before the
class started. Apart from that, teachers also have problem in exploiting the ICT
materials because not all teaching materials available on the internet can be used
directly. They need to be modified and make the teaching materials more attractive and
suitable to the background of the students as well their proficiency level. Then, there
are also some schools which are lacking of funds to purchase electronic equipment
such as LCD projectors, laptops and so on. As a result of this shortage, teachers have
difficulty to integrate ICT in the classroom. No internet connection also is a contribution
factor that hinders the use of ICT in the classroom. For example, if a teaching session
requires internet connection, but in a sudden the internet is disconnected, then it will
disrupt the whole learning and teaching session. As we know, Ministry of Education
Department have spent millions Ringgit to provide each school with ICT equipment to
be used by the teacher in the classroom. The government agreed to provide ICT
equipment to schools that include laptops, LCD projector or TV, and screen. Therefore,
it is important for teachers to improve their skills in understanding of ICT. The extent to
which teachers are ready and willing to use ICT in teaching practice is also heavily
dependent on the knowledge and skills of the technology available to them. According
to Abdul Rahman (2000), teachers are hardly using technology in the classroom due to
lack of knowledge and skills in using ICT. It has become a challenge for our education
today in providing trained and skilful teachers in the use of ICT. Hence, senior and new
teachers need to be trained systematically. They need to be exposed with the use of
ICT in the teaching continuously. Thus, the most important is the teacher need to create
a meaningful classroom environment in which students draw more fun learning with
ICT.

Other than that, the use of ICT also brings a huge impact on the students. Among
the advantages of ICT to students is that it helps students to get information easily and
in greater detail. Through the use of the internet at home, students can find information
to complete homework given by the
teacher. Information can also be
accessed easily and quickly. Moreover,
the use of ICT enables students to
learn anywhere and anytime that they
want. Students can access for any
information through the use of internet.
These advantages promote them to
learn independently hence encourage
self and exploratory learning. It is very
important for the students to master the ICT skills, as in this era of globalization,
students need to be updated in terms of technology knowledge and skills in order to
compete globally in the future. Students need to cope with the current demand yet equip
themselves with ICT skills. However, the development of ICT also contributes negative
impact towards students. As we know, ICT has changed the world by making all
information at our tips of fingers. Anything can be accessed through internet till we do
not know which information is valid or not. Even, we could see lots of negative cultures
has been spread through internet like porn site and sex forum and these sites actually
can be accessed by kids and students at home or at school. It is not just limited to the
children and youth but even the elderly are involved. Website with interactive features
such as sex forums discusses on negative aspects like locations providing sex and
location for prostitutes in Malaysia is one of the examples. This kind of site will give a
very bad effect on the students. Students, especially young learners, are not matured
enough to think well. They can be easily influenced thus ruin their thinking and
behaviour. In addition, students also use the internet as a way to socialize on certain
websites to meet their social needs. Hence, students should have the awareness of
self. They must be clever in choosing information. Lots of positive information that can
stimulate students’ thinking but, there are many negative information that could harm
them as well. Students should be matured in facing the challenges of globalization. The
students and young learners were said to be the backbone of leadership in the future.
Hence, the student must be constantly abreast all information so that they will not be left
behind in terms of current knowledge and skills. Students should be educated and
exposed to the current global needs from now on so that they will be able to fulfil our
national agenda in the future.

The use of ICT also provides many positive effects to school. One of them is
helping school management to be more efficient and proactive. As we know, school
managers, which is the headmaster is the most importance person in school. He needs
to possess great skills and knowledge by carrying out planning, decision making,
analysis and communicating effectively. The use of
ICT like computers, digital software like Microsoft
excel can help the headmaster as well as the
members of administrations to work more effectively,
efficiently and quickly involving information process
like student registration, multiple records, inventory
control, timetable, the number of teaching hours,
matters relating to the examination, the purchase of stocks and so on. For example,
using a computer-based information systems, information on student performance in
examinations can be stored, processed and analysed efficiently in the form of graphs,
pie charts, bar charts, lists and tables of statistics. Through these tools and software,
they can help school administrators detect strengths and weaknesses and thus facilitate
their planning and follow-up program. However, there are still some schools that have
lack of infrastructure and equipment. Use of ICT can not be practiced due to lack of
facilities in school. Lack of funds also will impede the progress of teaching and learning
through ICT. The same goes to the school's administration where there will be lack of
productivity in terms of managing a certain tasks like relief class, and so on. For schools
in the rural areas, this kind of schools may have difficultly in having ICT support like
internet connection, electrical and so on. In this case, these schools need to address
the financial problems from time to time to the District Educational Department so that
the implementation of ICT-based teaching and learning in schools can be successful
implemented. The role of leaders is also crucial in shaping the culture of ICT in schools.
To apply ICT culture in schools, a written policy document should be drawn up. These
policies helped to design and manage the ICT program which enables teachers and
students to master ICT in a progressive way.

In addition to that, ICT also brings advantages to

the parents. The advantage of ICT to parents is it
enables parents to access up-to-date information
about their child's learning at anytime. This
advantage will lead the parents to be more engaged
with their child's learning. Parents will be more aware
of their child's learning thus lead to their improvement
in learning. Parents also will be more engaged in the
school community by having access to their children
like their children’s attendance and learning information. Students' learning information
like students’ reports can be reached easily. The data presented also will be more
detailed. Hence, you will see that ICT can have a positive impact across a very wide
range of aspects of students, parents and school performance. But, ICT also can bring
downside to the parents. As we know, the use of ICT comprises of computer, internet
and other expensive gadgets. The cost of these gadgets will burden the parents who
can not afford to buy them. The same goes to the internet connection where the internet
coverage need to be bought and parents who are not able to afford it will feel burden.
Apart from that, there are some parents who are still lacking of knowledge and skills in
the use of computers. Children should be encouraged to use the computer from the
early age as they are expected to become a regular user of this technology for their
entire lives. Parents also should play their roles by spend more time together with their
children so that they can monitor and guide them in the use of computer and internet.
Not only teachers, Parents need to play a vital role in helping their children to become
more ICT literate. "Parents have a good role play to play. We must not leave everything
to the teachers.” (Festus, Parent, Anson Primary School)

Use of ICT in education is the first step towards creating a technological society in
line with the Vision 2020. Efforts need to be made and comprehensive involvement
needs to be done until we produce a mold of our own vision and inspiration. Thus, it is
proven that ICT facilities are needed by teachers, students and parents in order to
improve the performance of our national education effectively. Hence, ICT is essential
to develop our national education that is capable to compete globally and contribute
towards the development of religion, race and nation.