Starting next year, lower secondary students will be able to bring computer devices to school to substitute traditional textbooks, stated Deputy Education Minister Teo Nie Ching at the Dewan Rakyat yesterday (6 December).
As it was mentioned before, secondary school students will eventually be introduced to the interactive digital textbooks. You can read about it here. However, the change is currently solely focused on form one, two and three students in 2019.
Teo stated that there are no plans from the ministry to supply free devices to students to use the digital textbooks.
Source: SCMP
“They (lower secondary students) can bring their own devices to school next year. It is still at a very early stage, which is why we are only allowing secondary students to use the digital textbooks on their devices,” she said according to The Sun Daily.
“From there we will monitor the reaction of the students and parents on this initiative,” she added, in reply to Datuk Mas Ermieyati Samsudin (Independent-Masjid Tanah) who asked about the measures that will be taken to reduce the usage of paper in schools, as reported by The Star.
A total of 495 traditional textbooks have been digitalised into Portable Document Format (PDF) versions and were uploaded onto 1Bestarinet Virtual Learning Environment (VLE), an online learning portal.
Source: MyEduHub
“This digitalisation will allow for ubiquitous learning as well as allowing students to obtain ‘beyond the classroom’ knowledge, and reducing the problem of heavy school bags,” she said.
Teo continued by saying the transition to digitalise textbooks in stages was also in line with the ministry’s Textbook Transformation Roadmap 2013-2025.
What do you think of these students being allowed to bring their devices to school to substitute physical textbooks? Share your thoughts with us in the comments!
Also read: Starting 2019, Secondary School Students May Have Digital Textbooks to Lighten Heavy Bags
