Cheaper to source Chromebooks from makers, Zairil tells Education Ministry

The government’s decision to award the Internet learning for schools programme contract to YTL Corporation Bhd has been questioned by Bukit Bendera MP Zairil Khir Johari over the cost effectiveness.

Zairil wanted to know why YTL, which was only an Internet service provider, was awarded the contract which is expected to cost the education ministry a bomb.

He said under this programme, Chromebooks (laptops) are purchased and expected to be distributed starting next year to 5.5 million students.

Yet, he said, this purchase of laptops would have been obtained at a better deal should the ministry deal directly with the manufacturers instead of awarding the monopoly project to YTL.

“In Parliament yesterday, Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Ahmad Maslan said that it was more economical to use Chromebooks than to build new computer labs in schools,” he said in a statement today.

“He also told Parliament that the use of Chromebooks comes to about RM86,700 per classroom, which is cheaper than the RM150,000 it would cost to build a normal computer lab.”

Zairil also revealed that YTL and its subsidiaries have been awarded a monopoly over a host of lucrative projects by the education ministry to provide high-speed 4G broadband under the 1BestariNet programme to all schools at RM633 million for a two-and-a-half year contract, as well as Chromebooks (RM139.6 million) and a virtual learning environment platform for teachers, students and parents (RM513 million).

He, however, said most of the costs would be recurring, in particular licensing and maintenance costs.

“I have also highlighted that the purchase of Chromebooks is set to cost the ministry a bomb, bearing in mind that the Education Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin has publicly promised to provide one laptop to each student in the country under the 1 Student 1 Device programme,” he said.

“This amounts to a whopping RM6.6 million for 5.5 million students, at a price of RM1,200 per unit.”

Zairil said if that was the case, then it would be cheaper if the government had sourced for the Chromebooks directly from the manufacturers instead of paying premium to YTL, which is neither a computer manufacturer nor a distributor.

He said the ministry would surely have got a substantial discount considering the large amount of units ordered.