A lecturer from Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) Perak was seen in a viral video mocking a student in the B40 income group. What she did was inexcusable and indefensible.
UiTM vice-chancellor Prof Datuk Dr Roziah Mohd Janor has then issued a statement and said they have studied the issue and have taken swift and appropriate action against the lecturer.
We do not know what type of action has been taken by the university, but it must be commensurate with the seriousness of the incident, to ensure similar incidents will not repeat in the future.
More importantly, the Minister of Finance and Minister of Higher Education should also learn from the incident, and upgrade the PerantiSiswa initiative launched in Budget 2022, to ensure every B40 student in institutions of higher learning will receive a laptop instead of merely a tablet.
It was announced in Budget 2022 that: “In order to ensure that education for B40 students is not disrupted, the Government in collaboration with selected telecommunication companies will implement the PerantiSiswa Keluarga Malaysia initiative to supply a tablet to every B40 student in institutions of higher learning. For this purpose, the Government will provide an allocation of RM450 million in addition to a commitment of RM65 million from the telecommunication companies. Insya-Allah, a total of 600,000 students from B40 families are expected to benefit from this initiative.”
5 months have elapsed since the announcement. We do not know how many B40 students have received the tablet promised by the Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul. But the decision to provide tablets instead of laptops to university students is flawed and untenable, especially when the Government in Budget 2021 allocated RM150 million to provide laptops to 150,000 students. Why give tablets to university students but give laptops to primary and secondary school students? What’s the rationale behind such a decision?
While we condemn the UiTM lecturer for her lack of empathy, this incident also highlights how important and crucial it is for our university students to own their own laptops. MOF and MOHE should learn from the incident and upgrade PerantiSiswa from a tablet to laptop to ensure smooth learning for all B40 students in IPT.