TWO hundred students will receive free laptops under a programme by the Wangsa Maju parliamentary office in Kuala Lumpur.
The free laptop initiative, which started on June 23, received as many as 255 physical and online applications.
The highest number of successful applicants, 75, was from those sitting for their Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) examination, followed by degree students (56), diploma students (49), foundation students (14) and students who will be taking their Sijil Tinggi Persekolahan Malaysia (six).
The initiative’s committee chairman Azfar Aza hoped to distribute the laptops to students by the end of the month.
“This is to ensure that students joining their university’s October intake are all set with their laptops,” he said.
“For now, all successful applications have been sent to the implementation coordination unit to get the final approval.”
Those who applied needed to be from the Wangsa Maju community and aged between 17 and 24.
Azfar said other areas of focus included the number of laptops owned in a single household, household income and the number of siblings in a family.
“With this information, we can prioritise the families who need the laptops urgently and provide them with help faster,” he said.
Wangsa Maju MP Datin Paduka Dr Tan Yee Kew’s special assistant Andre Lai said this would help students who were behind in their studies because they did not have access to such electronics.
“A laptop is vital in a student’s academic life.
“Even before we launched this programme, we received many requests from students who came to us for help.
“It was not just laptops but also 3D printers.
“Of course, we ran preliminary checks on the students before giving them these tools.
“We try to help them in any way we can,” he said.
