The Ministry of Communications and Multimedia (K-KOMM) said that the PerantiSiswa Keluarga Malaysia device assistance may be expanded to B40 students outside of institution under the purview of the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE). For now, the programme is only open to students studying under MOHE, namely public and private institutions of higher learning.
Its Minister, Tan Sri Annuar Musa said that if there is enough capacity with the budget ceiling given to his ministry, K-KOMM is read to expand it based on demand. He further clarified that since the PerantiSiswa application was opened on 15 April, there were applications received from students outside of MOHE.
Bernama reported that these students are from the Academy of Arts, Culture and National Heritage (Aswara) under the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture (MOTAC) and the Institute of Teacher Education (IPG) under the Ministry of Education (MOE). Hence, should there be enough capacity, K-KOMM will consider providing PerantiSiswa tablets to these students in the second phase of the programme.
Annuar also commented on the fact that the number of students expected to receive the assistance was different from the figure announced in Budget 2022. He clarified that the original number of 600,000 students was an estimate for the budget.
K-KOMM found that the actual number of B40 students in institutes of higher learning are actually lower than expected. Hence, the ministry opined that providing cheap devices to students was not a suitable option.
Annuar stressed that students needs highly capable devices, hence why K-KOMM procured high-quality tablets with the number of B40 students estimated at 400,000. However, the ministry will wait on the actual number of applications first to avoid wastage.
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