KUALA LUMPUR: Around 200,000 data plans and 4,000 devices have been distributed to students from the B40 group under the Data Plan and Device Packages Initiative to Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) to help them gain access to quality education during the coronavirus pandemic.

Minister of Higher Education Datuk Seri Dr Noraini Ahmad said the initiative was launched in November last year as an initiative by the ministry, together with local HEIs, telecommunication companies and other corporations to help ease students’ burden as they need to leverage digital technology to attend classes.

“A total of 1.2 million students, including 130,000 international students, were affected when the teaching and learning activities could not be carried out as usual beginning March 2020.

“We had no choice but to leverage digital technology to ensure the continuation of classes. This was done through Massive Open Online Learning, Open Educational Resources, Flipped Classroom Online, and many more,” she said in a keynote address at the 2021 National Education and Learning Summit here today.

She said to improve the effectiveness of post-COVID-19 virtual learning, RM50 million has been approved in the 2021 Budget for the upgrade of the Malaysian Research and Education Network (MyREN) projects to enable students to have better and faster internet access and connectivity.

Noraini said the pandemic also affected graduate employability and MOHE is constantly looking for ways to put graduates ahead of other job seekers including through initiatives such as the PENJANA MOHE-CAP (career advancement programme).

Upon completion of the training, participants will stand a chance of securing a job placement in the participating industries, she added.

The summit was organised by KSI Strategic Institute for Asia Pacific in collaboration with the Malaysia Association of Private Colleges and Universities (MAPCU) and National Association of Private Education Institutions (NAPEI).

-- BERNAMA