Govt received 63k appeals to get devices under PerantiSiswa

The government received 63,000 appeals to get devices under the PerantiSiswa Programme when the deadline for appeals closed on Dec 31 last year.

Deputy Communications and Digital Minister Teo Nie Ching said of the appeals, 25,000 have been approved so far.

“The rest are still being evaluated by the respective institutions of higher learning (IPT). They will verify whether the appellants are from B40 (lower income bracket) families.

“The Communications and Digital Ministry (KKD) is the leading body (of the programme), whereby we do the distribution (of the devices).

“Whether the applications are approved or not, we have to wait for confirmation from the institutions,” she told reporters at SMK Tunku Abdullah Rahman Putra, in Kulai, Johor today.

Earlier, she presented devices under the programme to PerantiSiswa recipients from 13 IPTs and several schools in the Kulai parliamentary constituency.

Deputy Communications and Digital Minister Teo Nie Ching

Teo, who is also the Kulai MP, said 301,737 tablets or 83 percent of the 362,016 approved applications, had been distributed to date.

“For the state of Johor, a total of 29,461 applications have been approved and of that number, 23,435 units have been distributed to eligible students,” she said.

On whether the ministry had received reports on the selling of the devices, Teo said the last time it received such reports was in November.

“The last time KKD, then (known as) KKOM, received reports about selling (of the devices) was last November involving 13 cases. Since then, no cases have been reported. We hope there will be no more,” she said.

Asked if the PerantiSiswa Programme will continue this year, Teo said: “I cannot comment on that because we have to wait for the (government’s) decision, the announcement by the Minister of Finance (Anwar Ibrahim) when he tables the 2023 Budget in Parliament next month.

The PerantiSiswa Programme is a government programme that aims to help the learning process of IPT students who are in the B40 group.

- Bernama