ONLINE applications are now open for four additional categories for the PerantiSiswa Keluarga Malaysia programme, says Communications and Multimedia Minister Tan Sri Annuar Musa.
The four new categories are students in foundation programmes at public institutions of higher learning; students under the Education Ministry’s matriculation programme; Form Six students in schools under the Education Ministry; and students in Vocational Colleges that offer diploma studies.
“The expansion of the PerantiSiswa scope is expected to include more than 60,000 students from the B40 group in the categories I have mentioned,” he said in a press conference at the Parliament media centre yesterday.
Annuar said applicants would get the Samsung Galaxy Tab A8 LTE, which can accept a 4G SIM card.
“Supply and delivery will be done by the five companies which were chosen through an open tender according to (geographical) zone.
“We are expected to have the capacity to distribute 400,000 tablets. In the first phase, the procurement of 350,000 have been completed, while an additional 40,000-50,000 can be procured without a new procurement process.
“This will enable us to roll out in the near future,” he said.
He said the programme would be rolled out by the end of the month and launched by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob at UiTM Shah Alam.
The programme will also include other public and private tertiary education institutes.
He said that the programme was behind schedule by a month due to the open tender process.
Earlier, during the question and answer session in the Dewan Rakyat, Annuar said the Samsung Galaxy Tab A8 LTE device was chosen as it was a reputable brand and model in the market.
All suppliers were required to give a warranty of two years, and this was one of the conditions, he said.
“If there is a malfunction, the students will get replacements so their studies will not be disrupted,” he said, adding that there was also a buyback policy for the devices.
He was responding to a question by Lukanisman Awang Sauni (GPS-Sibuti) on the status of the distribution of tablets through the PerantiSiswa programme and how many tablets will be distributed to students from the B40 group.
A total of RM450mil had been allocated in Budget 2021 under the PerantiSiswa Keluarga Malaysia to provide higher education students from the B40 group with tablets.
The package is an initiative by the government in collaboration with selected telecommunication companies to supply a tablet device to every B40 tertiary student.
