(May 10): ONE of Malaysia's most ambitious technology-in-education projects has been dogged by controversy and has become a political hot-button issue.
The vision is bold: To propel all the nation's 10,000 schools into the digital age with laptops for every child and Internet connectivity for every school, thus creating a virtual learning environment and in the process, transforming teachers and the education system as a whole.
Dubbed 1BestariNet, the project will cost the Malaysian taxpayer RM1.5 billion (nearly US$500 million) at least, and would take 13 years.
The first steps had already begun more than a year ago and was later folded into the National Education Blueprint that the Barisan Nasional government unveiled late last year.
The project was mooted at one of the many labs or brainstorming sessions organised by the Performance Management & Delivery Unit (Pemandu) of the Prime Minister's Department as part of the Malaysian Government's Economic Transformation Programme (ETP).
Then in 2011, a tender was announced with 19 companies making bids. By August, they had been shortlisted to six: Celcom Axiata, Jaring Communications, Maxis, Multimedia Synergy Corp, Telekom Malaysia/Time dotCom Bhd (which submitted a joint bid) and YTL Communications.
Then something unusual happened: In October of that year, without much fanfare, the Ministry of Education posted a notice on its website that the project had been awarded to YTL, which operates the YES 4G wireless network - then took down the notice two hours later.
Those two hours were enough to foment murmurs of discontent throughout the industry, especially since the VLE solution would be provided by another YTL-owned company, FrogAsia.
This was followed by a period of silence until May 2012 when YTL Communications, part of the politically-connected YTL Power International Bhd, officially announced that it had been awarded the project and would be rolling out the first phase.
In April this year, the Malaysian Government announced that 10 million schoolchildren, teachers and parents would be provided laptops for free - but only if Barisan Nasional is returned to power in the general election.
And the laptops would be Chromebooks running Google Apps, the Mountain View, California tech giant's cloud-based solution suite - a move that was lauded by the company's chief executive officer and co-founder Larry Page.
Industry sources on three fronts - those which wanted to provide the Internet connectivity, the software and/ or the hardware - that Digital News Asia (DNA) spoke to then and even as recently as last month have complained about the tender's evaluation process.
None wanted to speak on the record, but sources in a few different companies said they felt that their solutions were not given a fair shake, and that request for meetings with Ministry officials to make their pitches were rebuffed.
"We were blocked at every turn; it was as if they had already made up their minds," said one source who requested anonymity.
The murmurs of discontent have moved up the grapevine to become a political issue, with Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim promising to cancel the project, describing it as a crony deal, if his Pakatan Rakyat alliance were to form Malaysia's next government.
'Don't politicise the issue'
Just about every aspect of the project rollout has come under attack. Teachers at one school where 1BestariNet has rolled out complained to DNA they could only get Internet access in one room, and connections dropped when they moved around the school compound.
The project requires the installation of telecommunications towers in each of the 10,000 schools, and the residents of one Kuala Lumpur school have protested, citing the dangers of electromagnetic radiation as reported by the Penang EMF Radiation Protection Association.
"The Ministry of Education cares about the health of pupils and teachers, I can assure you of that," said interim Deputy Minister of Education Datuk Wee Ka Siong after launching a 'Digital School 2.0' project at the Choong Wen Chinese primary school in Kuala Lumpur.
Acknowledging his ministry's issuance of a circular directing all schools to cooperate with YTL in installing the towers, he said: "Before we implemented the project, we consulted with the Malaysian Nuclear Agency and the Ministry of Health to ensure this is safe and properly implemented, subject to MCMC guidelines."
The MCMC or Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission is the telecommunications and Internet industry regulator.
"Let's not politicise the issue," said Yeoh Seok Hong, a director at YTL Power International. "Japan has the highest density of base stations in the world - at 150 per square mile - and look at their long lifespans."
"Towers going up at the schools won't just provide wireless Internet connectivity at the school, but in surrounding areas too - each has a 4km radius for Internet connectivity," he said.
Wee meanwhile noted that the Opposition-held Penang state, and its Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng, have also launched a WiFi project there.
Last year Lim launched Phase II of the state's Penang Free WiFi services, begun in 2009, which would see the installation of 1,550 free WiFi hotspots throughout the state.
"Lim and (his chief of staff) Jeff Ooi had a lot of studies to show that these towers are safe, and I will use the same argument they did," Wee said.
"I hope we can be consistent here - we don't have scientific evidence that this radiation is harmful," he added. "We just need to explain to people and we will continue with maximum consultation with the relevant agencies as we roll this out."
The Choong Wen project involved the establishment of a Chrome Lab undertaken by the school's Parent Teacher's Association and its board of directors, with learning material provided by education company Eduspec. YTL Communications donated 50 Chromebooks to the computer lab and will be providing the school with access to its
YES 4G mobile Internet.
YTL officials at the official launch confirmed that it was not part of the 1BestariNet project but was the school's own initiative.
The two tower issues
The health issue with YTL's towers is just one aspect however - industry observers have wondered whether the Malaysian taxpayer is paying for these towers to be built.
"Given that a tower can then be used to offer YES services to the surrounding community, are the taxpayers underwriting YTL Communications' network expansion?" said one pundit who requested anonymity.
YTL Communications chief executive officer Wing K Lee denied this, saying "The installation of these towers is borne solely by YTL Communications to enable 4G wireless connectivity to all parts of the schools, as part of our 1BestariNet service deliverables."
"Currently, Malaysian schools only have limited fixed Internet access from existing computer labs. With wireless mobility, enabled by our 4G technology, e-learning can now take place in classrooms, canteens and anywhere in the school - not just in computer labs.
"The use of wireless technology will help save an enormous amount of time and capital in building and maintaining labs and local networks," he added. "This will enable substantial savings and allow our public funds to be better used for the sake of helping our students perform."
Wing also described 1BestariNet as a total solution that combines wireless broadband connectivity with the Frog VLE "to realise the goal of collaborative teaching and learning."
When asked if YTL Communications would use the tower to roll out YES 4G services to the residents of the surrounding community, Wing conceded the point, but added that the Frog system itself would be free to students and parents.
"This infrastructure will enable teaching to go beyond classrooms, not just anywhere in the school compound but also the surrounding areas up to a 4km radius. With this broad coverage, students, parents and teachers can use this network to access the Frog VLE from home and continue the learning experience.
"1BestariNet also offers free-of-charge access for parents and students to the Frog VLE through our 4G network from their homes," he said.
Wing noted that a YES ID is required for access to Frog, but assured DNA that users of other Internet access services such as Telekom Malaysia's UniFi would be able to access the VLE from their own home networks.
Frog's learning leap
The numbers are daunting - 10,000 schools, over 5.3 million students, 500,000 teachers and 4.5 million parents, on one unified platform, which led one open source advocate to describe it as the "ultimate lock-in."
Despite all the bad press the project is getting however, the Frog VLE itself has pedigree. It was developed almost 13 years ago in the United Kingdom and was being used by more than 700 schools worldwide before the 1BestariNet project made such a number look inconsequential.
The developer, FrogTrade Ltd, earlier this year won the title of 'ICT Provider of the Year' at the 2013 British Educational Training and Technology Awards 2013 in London.
"It's not just about the classrooms but about creating a digital school, or a social network for learning," FrogAsia executive director Yeoh Pei Lou told DNA last November, adding that there were features for teachers, students and parents.
For instance, teachers can assign and keep track of students' work and marks, create teaching resources, and connect with other educators.
"All lessons one teacher creates can be shared with all the other teachers in much the same way sharing is done on social networks," Yeoh said, adding that one teacher from a school in Petaling Jaya created a lesson on microbes using a song from rock band Queen, which proved to be popular with both his students and fellow teachers.
Teachers can also use the calendar function to view, create, join or add events. Students can use videos and games to learn. They get a homepage which they can personalise and through which they upload and save files on the cloud, complete assignments and share ideas with classmates and teachers.
Finally, parents can use Frog to keep track of school events, PTA reports and school notices with the calendar and school notice board, find contact details on the Contact School page, and download permission forms and other school documents.
The VLE also comes with the 'FrogStore,' a one-stop resource centre containing e-books, videos (including some from Khan Academy), articles, worksheets and more that can help with their lessons or projects.
Yeoh said then that FrogAsia had trained 671 master trainers, who would go out and train others. The company itself conducted training in 351 schools, selected by the Ministry of Education (MoE) itself, in both rural and urban areas.
At that time, about 25% of the 10,000 schools had been connected, and she said that all schools would be connected by the end of this year.
When pushed for details of the tender and the project at the Choong Wen school event, MoE's Wee said "I will let the Prime Minister announce the details."
A Asohan is the Executive Editor and Co-Founder of Digital News Asia, an independent portal that provides coverage about the Malaysian and regional ICT ecosystem. This report was first published at Digital News Asia.- Fz.com
1Bestarinet project already discontinued ... as of 2014 ?
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