"The target was 200 thousand, but in 2022, we reached 245 thousand participants," head of the ministry’s Human Resources Research and Development Agency, Hary Budiarto, said.
The target could be achieved thanks to Indonesians' enthusiasm for improving their digital competence and skills through the Digital Talent Scholarship (DTS) program, he said.
The ministry had set the quota at 200 thousand for the 2022 DTS program.
Since DTS commenced in 2018, the program has opened eight academies in digital literacy, six of them are for students: Fresh Graduate Academy (FGA), Vocational School Graduate Academy (VSGA), Talent Scouting Academy (TSA), Professional Academy (ProA), and Government Transformation Academy (GTA).
The other two are available for the public: Thematic Academy and Digital Entrepreneurship Academy (DEA) and the Digital Leadership Academy (DLA).
DLA is specifically intended for leader-level digital talents, both from the government and the private sector.
Budiarto said that all digital training and literacy programs under the ministry are open in nature and free of charge.
He invited people who are interested to register on the ministry's web page at digitaltalent.kominfo.go.id.
For 2023, the ministry has set the same target as 2022, he said.
He said he was optimistic the target of producing 200 thousand digital talents through the DTS program will also be achieved this year.
Every year, Indonesia requires 600 thousand digital talents and in order to reach that target, the ministry is collaborating with universities, he said.
The ministry trains around 200 thousand digital talents per year, while universities in Indonesia are expected to produce the other 400 thousand.
In addition to DTS, the ministry also has the Digital Literacy National Movement (GNLD), which seeks to help the public develop their basic skills in cyberspace.
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Translator: Livia K, Fadhli Ruhman
Editor: Anton Santoso
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