KUALA LUMPUR – Around 200,000 data plans and 4,000 devices have been distributed to students from the B40 group under the Data Plan and Device Packages Initiative to Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) to help them access quality education during the coronavirus pandemic.
Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Noraini Ahmad said the initiative was launched in November last year as an initiative by the ministry, together with local HEIs, telecommunication companies and other corporations to help ease students’ burden.
“A total of 1.2 million students, including 130,000 international students, were affected when teaching and learning activities could not be carried out as usual beginning March 2020.
“We had no choice but to leverage digital technology to ensure the continuation of classes. This was done through Massive Open Online Learning, Open Educational Resources, Flipped Classroom Online, and many more,” she said in a keynote address at the 2021 National Education and Learning Summit here today.
She said to improve the effectiveness of post-Covid-19 virtual learning, RM50 million has been approved in Budget 2021 or the upgrade of the Malaysian Research and Education Network (MyREN) projects to enable students to have better and faster internet access and connectivity.
Noraini said the pandemic also affected graduate employability and her ministry is constantly looking for ways to put graduates ahead of other jobseekers.
The summit was organised by KSI Strategic Institute for Asia Pacific in collaboration with the Malaysia Association of Private Colleges and Universities and the National Association of Private Education Institutions. – Bernama, March 23, 2021
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