THROUGH the Covid-19 pandemic, people as well as governments around the world inadvertently learned important lessons on utilising technology to the fullest.

The pandemic turned out to be a turning point for governments in shifting focus to engage with the public via technological means.

Johor government was swift to act, jumping on the bandwagon and using online platforms to provide services to the people during the pandemic.

It also relied on technology to offer courses and make job opportunities available to the public.

State women, family and community development committee chairman Zaiton Ismail said most of Johor Women Development Department’s (JPW) courses were offered online.

“We kept most of our courses available despite the pandemic, as we knew how important the classes were to participants.

“Since March last year, almost all of the courses have been facilitated online.

“We also noticed that there was an increase in participation when we conducted the courses online,” she said, adding that a few new courses were introduced due to overwhelming response.

The three new courses are on DIY (do-it-yourself), beauty palette and financial skills, Zaiton said.

“The DIY course teaches women basic skills such as fixing pipes, formatting phones, changing light bulbs and car care, while the beauty palette course teaches basic makeup and healthcare.

Zaiton: Most of JPW’s courses are offered online as the department knows how important they are to participants.

“The financial course equips participants with skills for handling cash flow, using cashless technology and teaches them about e-commerce platforms.

“Through these courses, women who stayed at home during the pandemic learned new skills for free, which might help them generate an income,” she said.

Zaiton explained that some 36 courses were available to the public under JPW this year, with 34 conducted online and two carried out on-site.

Apart from the Johor JPW, Zaiton said the Darul Ta’zim Family Development Foundation (YPKDT) also provided courses under its Wing (Women Income Generating Project) initiative.

“Among the courses available are how to make Japanese cream puff and sushi.

“There has been a decline in the number of participants since the pandemic started; we had 763 participants in 2019, 526 last year and 298 so far this year.

“However, since the classes are done virtually and videos of the classes are available to the public, we expect the number of people taking part to increase further,” she said.

Zaiton said Johor government had also provided several courses for parents to guide their children in their online studies.

“Apart from that, there are courses teaching basic skills to fix smartphones and using technology for businesses,” she said, adding that the state government was looking at providing basic computer skills classes too for the public.

Johor Mentri Besar Datuk Hasni Mohammad officiated at the closing ceremony of a virtual job fair last week.

The 12-day programme organised by Unit Strategik Modal Insan Johor where some 4,538 job opportunities from 63 companies were made available.

“The Covid-19 pandemic slowed down efforts in human resource development and caused many to lose their jobs.

“Hence such a programme is important as not only does it present an opportunity for people to find employment, but they can also learn new skills,” he said during the virtual event.

Hasni said it was important for both the public and governments to adapt to technological development.

“The pandemic has changed our lives significantly and we need to be innovative and dynamic so that we can cope with these changes.

“This includes learning new skills to secure jobs,” he added.

To find out more about JPW’s courses, visit www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064363792032.

YPKDT’s courses are available at www.ypkdt.org.my