Council: Devices needed for effective e-learning

Baharudin (second from left) handing over donations in the form of face shields during his visit to SMK Dato Penggawa Timur.

The Federal Government has been urged to revise this year’s budget for the Education Ministry to help more pupils from poor families gain access to laptops or tablets for their studies.

Pasir Gudang City Council (MBPG) chief whip Baharudin Mohamed Taib said this was important, especially for kids who were starting their early education.

“Education is a necessity and not something we can postpone for a long period of time, because if we do, more pupils will fall behind.

“The government has allocated RM50.4bil to the Education Ministry this year and I believe some funds can be channelled from other areas, which have been deemed less important, to address this pressing need and purchase these much-needed devices, ” he said when contacted.

He added that the main issue with conducting home-based teaching and learning (PdPR) was that some students did not have access to an electronic device for the e-learning process.

“Last year, the Education Ministry revealed that 36.9% of students nationwide do not have any gadgets.

“There are cases (in Pasir Gudang) where a family has only one smartphone in the house and the student has to share it with the siblings.

“There are also cases where siblings in different grades have online classes at the same time, ” he said.

He said aside from the lack of equipment, the government should also look into increasing the Internet speed, especially in rural areas.

“I have received reports from teachers saying that they have to go out of their office or house just to connect to their online class, ” he added.

Baharudin said the government could also reintroduce the 1Malaysia netbook scheme for poor families or schools in phases.

“This is aside from the free laptop programme to 150,000 students in 500 schools as a pilot project under the Cerdik Fund, ” he added.