KUALA LUMPUR: A total of 600,000 eligible B40 university students will receive a tablet by next year to ensure that their studies throughout this new Covid-19 norm continues uninterrupted, Finance Minister Tengku Zaful said today.
Tabling the Budget 2022 in the Dewan Rakyat, he said the government has allocated a total of RM450 million in addition to commitments given by telecommunication companies that are willing to donate approximately RM65 million.
Tengku Zafrul said the initiative called “PerantiSiswa Keluarga Malaysia” (Student Devices for Malaysian Family) aims at helping underprivileged students who are not able to purchase their own devices, sometimes have to borrow their friends’ devices or had to go to the internet centre in town just to do their university assignments.
“To ensure the learning process of these B40 university students continues, the government in collaboration with selected telecommunication companies will carry out this initiative ‘PerantiSiswa Keluarga Malaysia’ to give one tablet to each B40 university student,“ he said.
In addition, he said the government intends to extend special tax exemptions to individuals up to RM2,500 for device purchases including mobile phones, computers and tablets.
The special exemption expires on Dec 31 next year.
