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More than six months have passed since the Movement Control Order (MCO) and its variants were introduced by the government to combat the spread of Covid-19. Most schools across the country have returned to normal with some new rules.
In urban centers like KL, children have to queue to take their temperature before entering the school premises, with face masks and social / physical distancing part of the routine now.
For nearly four months, online teaching and learning methods were used to replace face-to-face interactions, and that finally came to an end.
However, there were massive limitations for students who had poor or no access to the Internet, especially those living in rural areas such as the Orang Asli (OA) settlements.
In fact, the situation received national attention through the case of Veveonah Mosibin, a student at the Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Kampung Sapatalang in Pitas, Sabah. She made headlines after filming a video of her climbing a tree to get better access to the internet and to be able to take an exam online.
Greater connectivity is a must
For the OA, this is something they have grappled with for many decades.
When Malaysiakini We visited the Mah Meri community in Kampung OA Pulau Indah, Port Klang in April, we spoke with a teenage girl who was hampered by the low internet speed in her village. This limited her ability to download review exercises that her teacher shared on the class WhatsApp group.
Professor Bahari Belaton is a Semai who was recently appointed Dean of the Faculty of Computer Science at Universiti Sains Malaysia. He has returned to his village of Kampung OA Tangkai Cermin in Tanjung Tualang, Perak several times since the MCO relaxed.
As someone who struggled with the challenges of remote access to educational materials, you are eager to do more to help children in this area …
