Activity Review Sinda steps in to bridge digital divide

THE first time she went for a computer course, Mrs Theresa Sivanandan, 52, liked it so much that she signed up for another almost right away.

It was IT Smart, a one-day basic IT course with the Singapore Indian Development Association (Sinda).

The housewife was feeling lonely at home when she decided to sign up. Her husband is working and her son is in the army. Her other child, a daughter, is working in San Francisco.

She said: 'I had zero knowledge of computers, so I decided to do the course.'

Then she signed up for another, one on using the Internet with the National Library Board, to learn how to e-mail her daughter. She said: 'My daughter had given me her e-mail address, but I couldn't e-mail her. I was spending so much money calling her!'

She was among the 1,000 housewives and 450 retirees who attended the day course, which saw 3,000 participants in all.

The course fee was $10 but it was waived for 180 participants from low-income families.

This and other details of Sinda's activities last year were revealed at its annual general meeting, held at its Beatty Road headquarters on Friday evening.

Mr S. Dhanabalan, Sinda's president, said: 'Community support also helped us bridge the emerging digital divide... To date, we have reached out to over 10,000 people through our various IT activities.'

This included more advanced courses, such as those on webpage design, and an IT carnival.

As for Sinda's Step programme, which aims to provide tuition to children from poorer families, over 3,500 children were part of it last year - the highest number since the start of the programme in 1992.

About seven in 10 of Step students came from families earning below $1,500 and 540 students received free tuition. Sinda also awarded bursaries totalling $187,310 to 406 students.

And it had joint projects with over 72 Indian groups.

About 1,400 students benefited from its various reading programmes, such as Project Read.

Sinda also held talks and seminars to get parents to spend more time with their children.

Nearly 5,000 people attended its career guidance programmes last year, which guided students after their O and N levels.

Its first Indian youth carnival in Orchard Road drew over 1,000 people.

Sinda also raised $3.61 million from CPF contributions last year, up from $3.44 million in 1999.