Indonesia's Growth of Digital Literacy Index Slows Down

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesian Communications and Informatics (Kominfo) Ministry's director general for applications and informatics Semuel Abrijani Pangerapan stated that the country’s digital literacy remained at a moderate stage. Its year-over-year growth was not significant.

“In the early program [of digital literacy], the index score is 3.46. One year later, it increased to 3.49 and this year, it grew by 5 points to 3.54,” said Semuel in an event on digital literacy on Wednesday, February 1, 2023.

“Index score 3 means moderate. Hopefully, it can keep rising and become at an advanced stage. We want it reaches 4,” Semuel pinned hope.

To increase people’s cyber literacy, Kominfo held a national movement that promotes four pillars. First, a digital skill, meaning people’s knowledge of using gadgets.

“People must know how to use gadgets. They must know applications that can be used,” he added.

The second pillar is digital safety. This means people must raise their awareness regarding safety on the internet. According to Semuel, a digital room is similar to a physical room that urges people to be aware of its safety.

The third pillar is digital culture. Semuel opined that cyberspaces must be loaded with Indonesian cultures and values, such as friendliness, politeness, and tepa selira or tolerance.

The fourth pillar in digital literacy is digital ethics. “In life, we actually practice ethics in either digital or physical spaces,” Semuel concluded.

RIRI RAHAYU

Click here to get the latest news updates from Tempo on Google News