ICDL Asia held the awards ceremony for the National Digital Explorer 2022 (NDE) competition in Crescent Girls School, which was organised by ICDL Asia and Crescent Girls School (CGS). The pilot project consists of a nationwide eLearning initiative involving more than 10,000 primary and secondary school students in Singapore, and a competition with 745 selected students to demonstrate the application of digital skills in the new digital economy. Minister Gan Siow Huang who is the Minister of State for Education, Minister of State for Manpower, and the Member of Parliament (MP) for Marymount SMC was the guest of honour during the awards ceremony on Friday 5th of August.

ICDL Asia is part of the ICDL Foundation, an international non-profit social enterprise active in more than 100 countries, dedicated to raising digital competence in the workforce, education, and society. For more than 20 years, the globally-recognised ICDL standard has been a cornerstone for digital literacy. ICDL’s certification programmes are taken more than 2.5 million times annually, and ICDL Asia has trained more than 250,000 candidates in Singapore to date.

The National Digital Explorer competition was jointly organised by ICDL Asia and Crescent Girls School. 745 students (557 primary, 188 secondary) had to first go through the Certification Round that required them to complete the ICDL Application Essentials Test, with the top 2 students from each school advancing to the final round. The winners from the primary and secondary levels will represent Singapore in the regional ICDL Asia Digital Challenge 2022.

CGS has been a staunch collaborator with ICDL Asia’s push for digital literacy, participating in the ICDL Asia Digital challenge in previous years. 

Mrs. Helen Chong, Principal of Crescent Girls’ School, said: “Having had our students participate in ICDL Asia Digital Challenge every year since 2018, Crescent has seen how the students gained confidence and discovered new passions from the exposure afforded by this competition. That is why we are excited to partner with ICDL to avail this valuable learning experience to the wider student population in Singapore.”

ICDL Asia’s commitment to raising Singapore’s digital literacy at a grassroots level has been instrumental in creating a framework for how schools, parents, and students can play a part in getting the nation future-ready. 

Following NDE 2022’s reception, preparations for NDE 2023 are already underway. NDE 2022’s success is paving the way for ICDL Asia’s pledge to upskill 100,000 candidates in Singapore by 2024. 

Mr. Damien O’Sullivan, CEO of ICDL Foundation, said: “At ICDL Asia, we are committed to supporting young people to become effective digital students and to prepare them for their future digital workplaces. The NDE project has provided a wonderful opportunity for students in Singapore to develop their digital skills and have them validated with ICDL certification which is recognised by academic institutions and employers worldwide. 

We congratulate all the students who participated and in particular the competition winners. We offer our thanks to all the teachers who supported them. We look forward to further expanding the NDE project over the coming year, working closely with our partner schools to empower more students with certified digital skills.”