KUALA LUMPUR: A total of 42,000 primary and secondary school students nationwide have benefitted from free digital tuition offered by the National Information Dissemination Centre (Nadi) since its introduction last September.
Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) Nadi Office head Mohd Arif Adenan said that programme under the Digital Learning initiative and e-Classes has greatly helped students, especially in the B40 group, gain access to free additional classes that were previously difficult to obtain.
"To create an innovative society, education is an element that we cannot overlook, from the schools themselves to universities and beyond. So what NADI has done is to hold a free tuition programme.
"When we do tuition online, there's only one teacher but many students, and it's held simultaneously at 1,099 NADI centres nationwide. We can do this because (NADI) has stable internet access," he said in the 'Ruang Bicara' programme on Bernama TV on Monday (Aug 26) night.
Mohd Arif said the centres have expanded their role from merely bridging the digital gap between urban and rural populations to a community empowerment platform encompassing government services, entrepreneurship programmes, health and lifelong learning.
Elaborating further on the centre’s effectiveness as an economic empowerment tool, MCMC managing director Abdul Karim Fakir Ali said NADI has greatly assisted rural entrepreneurs in improving their marketing knowledge, thereby increasing their sales.
"We have the Nadi Entrepreneur programme that has shown that their sales have increased when they use the internet to promote their goods. Some of them have achieved 70 to 80 per cent of their sales online.
"Internet speeds (at Nadi) range from 100 megabits per second to one gigabit per second, which is much faster than what is needed. So, they didn't experience any internet access delays," he said.
Meanwhile, regarding the MCMC’s Digital Inclusion Project, which emerged as the winner of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) 2025 Prize through the NADI Pulau Banggi Initiative in July, Mohd Arif said it was a clear manifestation that the government does not marginalise the people.
"The government will not leave any of our citizens behind, no matter where they are located. We will ensure that every Malaysian enjoys the same facilities as other Malaysians, especially those in urban areas.
"Nadi is not only located on Pulau Banggi, but through the 1 DUN (state constituency) 1 Nadi initiative, we are also present on remote islands such as Pulau Tub, Pulau Tioman, Pulau Pangkor, Orang Asli villages, and Pulau Aman in Penang to ensure they also have access to the internet, facilities, and programmes offered through Nadi," he added. - Bernama
