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Datuk Saarani Mohamad speaks to the press at Mentri Besars’ office in Ipoh on May 5, 2021. Photo by Farhan Najib
IPOH, June 16 Perak Mentri Besar Datuk Saarani Mohamad today hit back at those who criticized the government for distributing shoddy smartphones to students from B40 families as part of its Tuisyen Cikgu Saarani (TCS) program.
Saarani stressed that these students would not be able to attend e-learning courses (PdPR) otherwise.
It’s better than not owning a smartphone at all. Imagine, if the 20,000 students didn’t have smartphones at all, how are they going to learn online?
The meeting of the state executive council and the chairman of the state education, higher education and human resources committee, Ahmad Saidi Mohammad Daud, inspected the smartphones and the features were found to be suitable for students to conduct their learning online, he said at a press conference via Zoom today.
Saarani also said that the Yes Altitude 3 smartphones were donated by the YTL Foundation.
The phones were free. We haven’t spent a single sen. If someone wants to donate during a tough time, it’s better to accept than to say no.
In addition, a total of 100,000 units of the smartphone model have been distributed to students by the YTL Foundation for Online Learning since the First Order of Motion Control last March.
If the same smartphone was used for e-learning since last year, then I don’t know why there should be a problem now with using the same phone for the same purpose, he said.
When asked to comment on an incident in which one of the smartphones allegedly caught fire, Saarani said that did not warrant an investigation because only one caught fire out of the 100,000 distributed by the YTL Foundation.
Yesterday, Perak Amanah Youth communications director Mohd Ikhmal Mohd Iskandar said the 20,000 smartphones that Perak’s government gave to students in the state were poorly equipped and unsuitable for online learning.
He said the devices could only be used for the most basic applications.
Needless to say, we emulate developed countries in providing new standards of education for the country’s next generation when our leaders are stuck with an outdated mindset.
It is unfortunate that the world is turning to 5G technology, but the thought process of our leaders is still in the era of the Nokia 3310, he said.
Ahmad Saidi announced the distribution of the 20,000 smartphones on Monday, claiming they were intentionally poorly performing devices to prevent students from using them for gaming.
Tech news site SoyaCincau deduced that smartphones are basic devices with a 1.3 GHz MediaTek processor, 1 GB of RAM and 8 GB of storage.
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