.JPG "Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Hajiji Noor speaks a press conference at the Sabah state administrative building in Kota Kinabalu September 29, 2020. u00e2u20acu201d Picture by Firdaus Latif")
KOTA KINABALU, June 6 — The Sabah government has allocated RM15 million for the distribution of laptops to underprivileged students who will be sitting for their Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM), Sijil Tinggi Pelajaran Malaysia (STPM) and Sijil Tinggi Agama Malaysia (STAM) examinations this year.
Chief Minister Datuk Hajiji Noor said 10,000 laptops will be distributed under phase 1 of the Bantuan Ihsan Komputer (BAIK) programme from July 19 until October 18.
Under phase one of BAIK, he said the laptops will be distributed to 9,842 students from the national secondary schools (SMK) and national vernacular secondary schools (SMJK) as well as 158 from the Sekolah Menengah Agama Negeri (SMAN).
“The state government hopes it will assist needy students. This is the state government’s approach to help them so that they will not be left out of the home-based teaching and learning (PdPR) programme.
“Those selected will be students whose parents or guardians are categorised as hardcore poor in the e-Kasih list. The chosen laptops of various brands could also be used by the students when they pursue further studies,” he said in a statement today.
Prior to this, Hajiji said the state Cabinet has agreed to set up a committee to be jointly-chaired by Special Tasks Minister and Science, Technology and Innovation Minister to find ways to assist poor students, so that they would not left out of the PdPR programme.
“The Special Tasks Ministry will be responsible for preparing the list of eligible students who fit the criteria set by the state Education Department while the state Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation will identify and decide laptops for eligible students,” he said. — Bernama
