KUALA LUMPUR: The move by the Malaysian Indian Transformation Unit (Mitra) to distribute refurbished laptops to national type Tamil primary schools (SJKT) was based on the funds available, says Datuk Seri R. Ramanan (pic).
The Deputy Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives Minister said providing new laptops would incur greater costs and affect the implementation of other programmes.
Furthermore, Mitra’s monitoring found that the initiative had benefitted pupils, teachers and school administrators.
“Why give second-hand laptops? This is Mitra; we are not the Education Ministry, Communications Ministry or Digital Ministry. We have to do what is (within our means).
“If we give new laptops, we will be using up a huge amount of funds, and if we use up these funds, how are we going to carry out other programmes?” he told a press conference in Parliament on Tuesday (Aug 19).
He was commenting on allegations by certain quarters that the laptops provided under Mitra were refurbished and of no use to pupils.
Ramanan, who is also a former Mitra chairman, said the laptops provided were supplied by Google through a corporate social responsibility (CSR) programme.
So far, 6,000 units have been distributed to 520 SJKTs, he added.
“All of them come with a warranty, and surveys … show school administrators and teachers reporting positive impact from the programme. The supplier has resolved all complaints submitted by schools from time to time,” he said.
The laptop assistance programme was launched in 2023 to help SJKT students be better prepared to meet current learning needs and to reduce the digital divide between rural and urban schools.
On criticism from some quarters questioning Mitra’s Aviation Training Programme with Westar Aviation, Ramanan said 75 out of 100 participants are undergoing on-the-job training, including aircraft maintenance, while the remaining 25 participants will begin training in September.
“If you want the list of names, I will provide it, because when all the programmes were announced in Parliament the other day, maybe some people were dissatisfied. Never mind, I’ll take responsibility so that we can put this to rest,” he said.
At a separate press conference, Mitra Special Task Force Committee chairman P. Prabakaran said the committee welcomed the Prime Minister’s announcement for the Indian community today.
However, he also expressed hope that irresponsible quarters would stop spreading false information and provoking the Indian community.
Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim told the Dewan Rakyat during Prime Minister’s Question Time that almost RM1bil had been allocated for the Indian community under the Sumbangan Tunai Rahmah (STR) initiative.
He also said that assistance was channelled to the community through a number of initiatives apart from only Mitra. – Bernama
