KUALA LUMPUR: The first batch of students are expected to receive their tablets under the PerantiSiswa Keluarga Malaysia programme in the second week of June, says Communications and Multimedia Minister Tan Sri Annuar Musa (pic).

       Annuar however added that the period depended on the delivery process of the selected bidders.

       "We planned this first roll-out to be 30 days from the date of application, and the second roll-out is in August, which is 60 days after the application process for those who apply late and for appeal cases," he said in the Inclusive programme on TV1 channel broadcast by RTM on Monday (May 9) night.

       Applications for the PerantiSiswa programme were opened from April 15 under an allocation of RM450 million involving orders of 350,000 units.

       Annuar said the Communications and Multimedia Ministry had concluded that the ideal device is a tablet that comes complete with accessories, including a keyboard.

       "Based on the advice of the committee including EPU (Economic Planning Unit), we also ran a trial on a group of students and got feedback from them before we decided (that) with the RM450 million budget available, it is better we provide high quality tablets than low-quality laptops, taking into account the cost element,” he said.

       In the meantime, he said the brand and supplier for the device would be announced next week while reiterating the assurance that it was a well-known brand in the market and not of low quality.

       About 350,000 B40 students in public and private institutions of higher learning (IPTA), polytechnics and community colleges under the Higher Education Ministry are eligible to apply for the Keluarga Malaysia Student Device initiative.

       The device will be given to students pursuing diploma, advanced diploma and Bachelor's degrees. - Bernama