IPOH: Malaysia needs to strengthen its technology ecosystem by nurturing talent from a young age to meet the rising demand for skilled workers driven by artificial intelligence (AI) and other emerging technologies in the next five to 10 years.
Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Datuk Chang Lih Kang said technology skills development initiatives currently remained largely focused on those aged between 18 and 40.
Although there are no specific government initiatives targeting younger children in areas such as AI and robotics, he said efforts were underway to strengthen the overall technology ecosystem.
“To be frank, not yet for the kids, but slowly. Definitely, because we are looking at pushing the entire ecosystem.
“We need to train our talent from young,” he told reporters at an event here yesterday.
Chang said the Education Ministry is looking into the school syllabus, while Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry is focusing more on out-of-classroom programmes to expose students to science and technology.
Among the programmes organised by his ministry are Techlympics and Minggu Sains Negara (National Science Week), he added.
He said the government was also expanding the scope of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), traditionally focused on conventional fields, to include courses involving coding, robotics and AI.
“Some of these have already been implemented, and slowly we are going to push further,” he said.
Chang welcomed the private sector to conduct programmes for younger children, adding that private sector initiatives to expose children to AI and other technologies could complement the government’s current focus on those aged 18 and above.
Chang also stressed that Malaysia needed to address its shortage of skilled talent as AI and other emerging technologies continued to develop.
“In the next five to 10 years, we will need a lot of talent. In fact, one of our problems is talent and training talent.
“When we want to push this ecosystem, it is not so much about demand, technology or infrastructure.
“Talent is the main difficulty we are facing,” he said.
