The PerantiSiswa Keluarga Malaysia initiative has been quite the roller coaster ride, especially for students who are waiting to get their devices. Rollout of the tablets was delayed twice before, but things look to be on track now. And on that note, the Communications and Multimedia Ministry (K-KOMM) says that it aims to distribute 80% of the devices under the initiative by the end of November.

Bernama quotes Communications and Multimedia Minister Annuar Musa says that the ministry has received 350000 applications under phase one and two. The minister also says that both phases are being processed simultaneously. Beyond that, the report also quotes K-KOMM Infrastructure and Application Division principal assistant secretary Hariaty Mohd Idrus who says that as of 14 September, a total of 105665 PerantiSiswa applications have been approved.

PerantiSiswa K-KOMM — [Image: MoF / Berita RTM.]

First announced as during Bajet 2022 in October last year, PerantiSiswa is meant to assist students from B40 families facing financial difficulties in obtaining digital tools for their education. The tablets were supposed to be distributed to students in June until the Ministry of Finance decided to redo the tender process.

Eligible students under the PerantiSiswa initiative will be receiving a Samsung Galaxy Tab A8 tablet, as well as a suite of accessories for it. This includes the ITFIT Tab A8 Book Cover, ITFIT Stylus Pen, the Smart Keyboard Trio 500 and a 7.75W charger.

Initially, these were handed out as loaners to be returned once they have completed their studies. This was then changed earlier this month, as the government has since announced that eligible students under the PerantiSiswa initiative were not required to return them. That being said, it’s unclear if there are caveats involved. For instance, the Sabah Department of Information posted on its Facebook page that only students who achieve a CGPA of 3.5 or higher will be able to keep the devices they received.

(Source: Bernama)