PUTRAJAYA, Nov 20 ― The construction of school buildings to widen access to education will be irrelevant in the future given the advent of virtual learning, Education Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said today.

Muhyiddin, who is also deputy prime minister, said new and progressive ideas ‎are therefore needed to contribute to the changing landscape in the education sector today.

“In order to place the country on a level-playing field with developed countries such as Japan and Korea, the Education Ministry has to think of the future needs for education,” he said in his speech at the ministry's Innovation Day celebration here.

He said that innovation is also needed in education to encourage the academic fraternity to test and improve themselves to be more efficient and effective while also improving quality.

“The triumph of innovation in our system for the ministry is mainly‎ through the information and communication technology, via  innovation of the digital textbooks.

“This innovation is part of the textbooks transformation wave,” he added.

Muhyiddin said that currently, there are 313 textbook titles available for access by students, parents and teachers through the 1BestariNet website.

“In the second wave, this will be continued with the anticipated launch of the Smart Interactive Digital Textbooks.”

Muhyiddin said that latest education plan will be carried out between 2016 and 2025 and will allow for a virtual learning environment.