TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Education, Culture, Research, and Technology Ministry along with tech giant Google cooperated with six domestic manufacturers to develop local Chromebooks to support educational services in Indonesia. The six local firms are Advan, Axioo, Evercoss, SPC, Zyrex, and TSM.

The ministry’s Director General of Vocational Education, Wikan Sakarinto, explained the collaboration was expected to produce hundreds of thousands of units in 2022. “This aims at supporting digital teaching and learning activities,” said Wikan in a virtual event on Tuesday, August 3.

The Covid-19 pandemic has changed the people's lives, particularly in the education sector. According to Wikan, the rising use of digital services and technology is inevitable. It is necessary to build strong synergy in order to bring solutions for teachers and students, as well as create breakthroughs in providing the best educational services.

Google Indonesia Managing Director Randy Jusuf said his side would assist in the national education modernization program. The homegrown laptop to be developed by the six domestic firms would use the ChromeOS or Chrome operating system.

“This is the first time Indonesia’s producers innovate products for domestic and international markets,” said Randy.

Read: Google Grants US$1mn for Indonesia's Covid Response

MOH KHORY ALFARIZI