Poor students are not beggars

 

From Abdul Bar

Technology is essential for progress, with more communication being conducted online, from business to education, during the Covid-19 pandemic.

More people are investing in communication devices, and they need good quality internet service to assist them with their daily activities.

Unfortunately, those who do not have the means will be left behind.

Based on an OECD survey conducted worldwide, poor students who have been deprived of online learning will have their future income affected by 6%-7%. Students whose families are unable to support out-of-school learning will face more significant learning loss than their more advantaged peers, translating into more loss of lifetime earnings.

The inequality gap between B40 students and others in Malaysia is massive, and disadvantaged students will be more impacted.

There has been criticism in the media over the 20,000 smartphones donated by YTL Foundation for the B40 under Perak’s “Tuisyen Cikgu Saarani” initiative.

The criticisms are over the unsuitability of the device for home-based teaching and learning.

There are also reported incidents of donated devices catching fire. The smartphone is not just inadequate, but also dangerous.

Among the questions that come to mind is, firstly, on the quality of the smartphones.

How do the authorities expect students to learn with devices that are of poor quality? Why are we making lives harder for students who are already having difficulty and are struggling with their lives? Why can’t products of good quality be offered, instead?

YTL Foundation’s move to donate the smartphones should be lauded, but would it be a burden for YTL financially to donate devices of better quality?

As at March 31 this year, YTL Corp Bhd posted a 9% increase in its net profit to RM93.5 million (3QFY21) from RM85.4 million in the previous quarter.

Will the contribution of better quality devices cause the company to go bankrupt? I do not think so!

Second, the education ministry should have already solved or addressed the problems faced by B40 students.

Since the first MCO, among the issues faced by students was inadequate resources to continue their online learning programme. Why has this problem still not been addressed?

Based on the education ministry’s data shown in 2011 alone, 20,000 children dropped out of school before completing their SPM exam.

As seen from MySkills Foundation data, children who drop out typically are from the lowest income group (B40), dysfunctional families, and unsafe or violent environments.

Children from lower socio-economic backgrounds are less likely to continue studies after their compulsory schooling years, unlikely to undertake tertiary training and more likely to go into occupations with limited future.

How do we expect to be a developed nation in 2030 if children cannot even get proper basic education?

Many youngsters, mainly from socio-economically disadvantaged households, may drop out of school. Vocational education and training provisions have also been disrupted even though there are no updated statistics or data to assess how bad the current situation is.

Third, the Perak menteri besar has said that YTL has done its part in contributing. Hence, we should be grateful and count our blessings.

There is a pattern here in defending large corporations as they continue to make profits while the rest of us scrape the bottom of the barrel to survive each day.

Most of us still remember the case of Veveonah, who had to climb a tree for better internet access so she could study for a college exam in Sabah.

We have not moved forward since that incident last year.

Abdul Bar is an FMT reader.

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.