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KUALA LUMPUR: Khazanah Nasional Bhd and Petronas should accelerate the purchase of laptops so that needy students undergo virtual learning rather than use public funds, says Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
The former prime minister said it would be unfair for public funds to be used to contribute to the RM150,000 fund to buy 150,000 laptops as part of the government initiative.
“It is unfair and unacceptable to take from people’s savings, including Permodalan Nasional Bhd and the Employee Provident Fund (EPF) if the project is advertised as a government initiative,” he said in a Facebook post on Tuesday (26 de January).
During the 2021 Budget presentation on November 6, it was announced that government-linked companies and government-linked investment firms would contribute RM150 thousand to Tabung Cerdik to provide laptops to 150,000 students in 500 schools as a pilot project, which will be supervised by Yayasan. Hasanah.
Najib said that funds should be taken from Khazanah Nasional and Petronas as soon as possible to purchase the laptops, as virtual home teaching and learning (PdPR) lessons will start soon.
The Pekan MP also questioned why Khazanah Nasional did not help with the supply of laptops after it divested assets worth “tens of billions of ringgit”.
On the other hand, Umno’s chief information officer, Shahril Hamdan, said that the government should consider giving subsidy vouchers to specific groups to allow more students to undergo the PdPR.
He suggested that the government could provide subsidy coupons to buy laptops, for example RM1,000 to B40 groups (bottom 40%) and RM500 coupons to M40 groups (middle 40%).
“Malaysia has about 4.8 million primary and secondary school students.
“If we do a simple calculation, it is estimated that there are around two million B40 students and another two million in the M40 group.
“If given in the exact total, the amount will only be RM3bil, which is less than 1% of the 2021 budget.
“Both physical and electronic wallets can be considered,” he said in a Facebook post on Tuesday (January 26).
The implementation of the PdPR at the national level represents a challenge for parents, teachers and students.
Teachers have raised concerns about the lack of devices, internet data plan, and self-motivation.
Shahril said the key to tackling such challenges rested primarily on the government, as it was impossible to rely primarily on non-governmental organizations or individuals like popular preacher Ustaz Ebit Lew or Muar Syed Saddiq MP Syed Abdul Rahman.
“There should not be a strict and strict specification process to acquire the devices.
“Let parents or students decide which devices they want as long as it is suitable for PdPR.
“With coupons or vouchers, spending will be stimulated in our economy. God willing, there should be no problem,” he said.
Shahril also said that Yayasan Hasanah had reported that as the secretariat of the initiative, which is managed together with the Ministry of Education, they had given certain specifications for laptops.
“The matter should have been resolved earlier and the specifications determined last year, but that’s okay, we have to look ahead,” he said.
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