With the current economic downturn, our government has proposed a program to provide leased electronic equipment in order to help schools reduce their maintenance expenses. The Senior Minister of State for Education, Datuk Mohammad Razi, pointed out that the use of leasing electronic equipment can help schools to provide students with laptops and other electronic equipment, but also to reduce the school in the maintenance of equipment expenses, killing two birds with one stone.
In this regard, Dato’ Mohammad Razi explained: “If these devices or equipment break down, the supplier will be responsible for the repair work” and explained that this is a transformation project adopted by the Ministry of Education to cater to the prevalence of digital education and also to ensure that electronic equipment such as laptops, projectors and printers can be used to the maximum extent.
In addition, Dato’ Mohammad Razi also added in his speech on stage that the Ministry of Education started this program earlier this year and intends to implement it in 3 phases. The first phase involves 3,910 schools, 90% of which have been supplied and installed; the second phase involves 3,455 universities and is expected to be completed by early 2023, while the third phase involves 3,400 schools and is expected to be completed by the end of 2023. It is understood that these three phases involve a total of RM1.3 billion in funding.
In addition, Dato’ Mohammad Razi also said that the Ministry of Education is selecting the suppliers based on the region so that the schools in the region can be the first to receive assistance and solutions when the equipment fails. He also disclosed that the Ministry of Education is implementing a hybrid class (kelas hibrid) project, the first phase of which will be run on a trial basis in 550 classes in 110 schools, and installing high-speed Internet access infrastructure for these classes.
