Digitalised textbooks for secondary students from next year

The plan to have digitalised textbooks from next year follows grouses about the heavy schoobags schoolchildren have to carry.

KUALA LUMPUR: The education ministry will introduce digitalised textbooks for students in Forms One to Three next year in a move to lighten school bags.

This will be followed by Forms Four to Six in 2021, said Deputy Education Minister Teo Nie Ching.

She said the ministry would monitor the progress before the programme is expanded further.

The move is also one way to promote a paperless environment, she said today in the Dewan Rakyat in reply to Mas Ermieyati Samsudin (Independent-Masjid Tanah), who asked on the ministry’s measures to reduce usage of paper in schools and tertiary institutions.

“As for devices such as tablets, the ministry has no plans to provide them to students.

“But we will allow students to bring their own tablets,” she said.

Teo said interactive books for Forms One to Five students would also be made available from 2020.

This would allow them to gain knowledge beyond the classroom while solving the problem of heavy school bags.

She said the digitalised books would be available on 1Bestari Net, an initiative introduced by the previous government to provide internet connectivity and create a virtual learning environment.

The issue of heavy school bags has been around for ages and parents and students have blamed the bags for causing back pain, poor posture and slouching among children. - FMT