Perak govt to distribute 20,000 smartphones to heads of B40 households

 

The state government will distribute 20,000 smartphones to the heads of B40 low-income households in Perak as early as next month, to complement the "Tuisyen Cikgu Saarani" (TCS) programme.

Perak Menteri Besar Saarani Mohamad (above), who is also Kota Tampan assemblyperson, said the provision was aimed at helping poor families in need of smartphones, equipped with applications, to help facilitate their children’s online learning.

He said discussions between the state government and a foundation on the provision of the smartphones had been held for the past three weeks and was expected to be finalised next week.

“TCS is just the name of the programme, we will create a motivation programme for both parents and students and a holiday camp for students. This is just an idea, the final decision depends on the brainstorming session,” he told reporters after the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) 2020 Final Acceleration Programme in Lenggong, today.

The programme organised by the Kota Tampan assemblyperson’s service centre in collaboration with "Pertubuhan Aspirasi dan Pembangunan Integrasi Kebangsaan (Nadi)" Sungai Siput was also attended by Perak Infrastructure, Energy, Water and Public Transport Committee chairperson Mohd Zolkafly Harun.

Commenting further, Saarani said although the face-to-face school session would be starting next month, the state government will continue to provide the device under the TCS programme for long-term use.

On the TCS programme, Saarani, who is also a former teacher, said a special module would be discussed so that it would be more interesting and achieve the target.

TCS was launched on Feb 3 specifically for students from B40 families and it includes specific initiatives and assistance, namely tuition and extra classes, special food assistance, revision programmes ahead of exams, seminars answering exam questions as well as the provision of interactive video-based teaching materials.

Saarani also advised candidates sitting for the SPM examination tomorrow to be calm and to answer the exam questions to the best of their ability and achieve outstanding success.

- Bernama