The Communications and Multimedia Minister Annuar Musa last month revealed that the government has obtained the Samsung Galaxy Tab A8 LTE to be distributed to eligible students under the PerantiSiwa Keluarga Malaysia initiative. Today, the minister has provided a glimpse of the full tablet package via his official Facebook page ahead of its launch event tomorrow.
First announced to the public during the tabling of Bajet 2022 last October, Annuar revealed the preliminary specs for the tablet back in March and insisted that it must come with a 10.1-inch display as well as 4GB of RAM. Additionally, the tablet must also be accompanied by a keyboard and stylus.
Fast forward a month later, the Ministry of Communications and Multimedia together with the Ministry of Finance then revealed the full minimum specifications for the tablet which now include built-in LTE connectivity. Based on the specs sheet at PerantiSiswa’s official website, it goes without saying that the Galaxy Tab A8 LTE that the government obtained has certainly met its standard.
Interesting enough, the government managed to obtain first-party Samsung accessories for the PerantiSiswa tablet too. They include the ITFIT Tab A8 Book Cover, ITFIT Stylus Pen and Smart Keyboard Trio 500 as well as a 7.75W charger.
As per the government’s requirements, the Tab A8 for the PerantiSiswa programme comes standard with a 24-month warranty. That the keyboard and stylus together with the tablet’s battery and charger also have a 12-month warranty according to the website.
However, the tablet is being provided to students on a loan basis and has to be returned once they have finished their studies. With an allocation of RM450 million, the rollout of the tablet was supposed to take place in June but was then delayed to this month instead, mainly due to MoF’s decision to redo the tender process.
Under its current plan, the government targets to deliver the tablet to 350,000 students within this year through PerantiSiswa. Eligible students that have yet to submit their application can still do so until 30 September via the programme’s official website.
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