KUCHING: The Ministry of Education (MOE) is always working on ensuring that all children have access to education including those in the rural areas as well as those in the B40 group.
Deputy Minister of Education Senator Datuk Dr Mah Hang Soon said to help students who do not have access to the internet and suitable electronic devices for online learning, home-based learning is implemented through Educational TV and radio broadcast, and delivery of physical learning materials to students.
He said the MOE was aware that there were weaknesses in the implementation of home-based learning which made the effectiveness of online teaching and learning limited compared to face-to-face methods.
“Therefore, one of the main things implemented when the school reopens is that teachers are to assess the students’ level of competence,” he said in Parliament in response to Lukanisman Awang Sauni (GPS-Sibuti) today (Aug 18).
Lukanisman asked about the steps taken by the MOE to ensure that rural students and those in the B40 category have access to learning facilities that are equivalent to what urban students have such as laptops, tablets, printers and whether studies have been conducted on learning difficulties during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Mah said teachers would ensure that their students at least achieve the minimum level of competence in each subject.
“MOE will strive to further increase the effectiveness of home-based learning methods from time to time. Currently, MOE is developing a comprehensive strategy to empower digital education including home-based learning,” he said.
He said among the efforts made by the MOE to improve the ecosystem of digital education included collaborating with the Economic Planning Unit in the Prime Minister’s Department in the IR4.0 study and Digital Economic Development Plan.
“Apart from that, MOE is also drafting a home-based learning module implementation as a guide for teachers,” he said.
Regarding a study done by MOE from last March 28 to April 2 on student readiness in online learning, he said the findings showed that 6 percent of students own personal computers, 9.3 percent own laptops, 5.8 percent own tablets and 46.5 percent own smartphones.
“There are also students who have more than one device for online learning. At the same time, there are 36.9 percent who don’t have any suitable device to enable them to do online learning and have problems accessing the internet,” he said.
