With mobile phone penetration rising to 126 per cent today from about less than 1 per cent five years ago, the Myanmar telecom sector has shown singular growth, showing that we are braced for a quantum technological leap.
Countries across the world are giving priority to innovation as they embrace Industry 4.0 or the Fourth Industrial Revolution. In every sector, from agriculture to education, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things (IOT) have come to the fore. In the production sector, automation is putting an end to the combination of human workforce and machines.
Myanmar has a geographical advantage when it comes to producing clean energy and healthy food. We can capitalize on the abundance of fertile land to transform into an agri-power through effective investment in the agro sector and making the best use of technology and innovation.
Hence, it is important to have great confidence in our capability.
Irrespective of the revolution and era, our approach should remain human-centric.
Our approach to the Fourth Industrial Revolution should be based on our belief in the creativity, empathy, and stewardship qualities of our people, especially the young.
Our approach to Industry 4.0 should be based on innovation, sharing, and leadership, concerning itself not just with the youth, but all human resources.
No matter how far our country lagged in terms of development, we can reap the advantages of astute late comers, learning from the success as well as mistakes of those ahead of us, offering fresh openings and new horizons.
Moving forward, we need to make greater investment in human resource development so that our workforce benefits from the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
In fact, our youths have shown they can match skills with the rest of the world. A group of students from the University of Information Technology won the second prize in the ASEAN Makerthon in Malaysia, and a group of Myanmar students came sixth in the Global Challenge 2017 Robotic Competition.
The achievements of our youths show they need correct support and guidance from us so that they can proactively participate in realizing the dreams of our nation.
We need to change our teaching methodology so our youths have the technological skills required for the industrial revolution.
Now is the time to encourage our youths to hone their technological skills and improve our education system so that our students inculcate practical skills and adapt to a changing world.
Only when we are armed with new technological skills can we overcome the challenges in our path.
GNLM
