More than 100,000 seniors have benefited from digital skills training conducted by the SG Digital Office (SDO). The learning impacted has been highly effective, with nine in ten continuing to apply the skills learnt, including using their smartphone for video calls, accessing government digital services and making e-payments, in their daily life.
The SDO was established under the Infocomm Media Development Authority (“IMDA”) in June 2020 as part of the Government’s concerted push to build a digitally inclusive society for Singapore, and ensure that all Singaporeans are empowered through digital for life.
SDO supports the less digitally savvy in the community, through high touch engagement to adopt digital tools, skills and habits, to thrive in the digital future.
SDO, which has conducted more than 250,000 training sessions for seniors to date, has also engaged 18,000 stallholders to help them kick-start their digital journey by adopting digital tools such as the unified e-payment solution.
More than 60% of Singapore’s stallholders have adopted the solution, and stall transaction volume and e-payment value has continued to grow. The number of transactions for the past 12 months to July 2021 was 1.8 million, compared to 270,000 over the same period the year before. Transaction value grew to $17.3 million, compared to $2.9 million over the same period the year before.
Minister for Communications and Information, Mrs Josephine Teo, said that the government wants digitalisation to benefit everyone including seniors and groups like hawkers. “Using digital tools may not come naturally to them. It is why we set up the SG Digital Office last year and kickstarted the Digital for Life movement this year,” she added.
