Microsoft (M) Sdn. Bhd.

Empowerment begins with Inclusion – As we work to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more, we are inspired and encouraged by our partnerships across government and nonprofit organizations, allowing us to democratize access to digital skills learning opportunities across educators, juvenile prison inmates, rural and marginalized communities, and people with disabilities.

As ASEAN continues to strive towards the vision set out in the ASEAN ICT Masterplan 2020, ASEAN Foundation and Microsoft launched a joint initiative to develop future-ready youth across South East Asia. This is in line with the ASEAN Digital Skills Vision 2020 pledge made alongside the World Economic Forum, and aims to reach almost 50 000 underserved youth.

As we endeavor to democratize digital skills learning opportunities, we fully realize that while digital and soft skills will enable the younger generation to thrive in a digital future, the future-readiness of our younger generation lies in the backbone of the education system: our educators. In line with this, and in furtherance of the nationwide STEM4ALL campaign launched earlier this year, Microsoft Malaysia, encouraged and inspired by the passion and vision demonstrated by the Ministry of Education Malaysia, partnered the Ministry to launch Future Ready ASEAN – a free online platform that anyone can leverage to learn digital skills. The training series was kicked off in conjunction with World Youth Skills Day, equipping educators with HTML5 and CSS skills. Since the launch, 500 teachers across Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak have been trained in digital skills, in partnership with Persatuan Guru STEM Malaysia and the Ministry of Education.

In addition to equipping educators with digital skills, we recently hosted an AI for Accessibility hackathon, bringing together diverse stakeholders to develop solutions for challenges relating to daily life, employment, and communication for people with disabilities. Empowerment begins with Inclusion, and Inclusive Design allows us to bridge the opportunity divide, bringing people of all abilities into the digital economy.