‘Give laptops under Perantisiswa’
Poll reveals students’ preferred device for online studies
TERTIARY students believe the government should consider providing laptops as an additional option under the Perantisiswa Keluarga Malaysia initiative.
This is because the students find it more useful to use a laptop for online studies, says a recent poll on the initiative carried out by the UCSI Poll Research Centre.
Right now, only mobile tablets are provided to B40 tertiary students under the initiative.
The poll found that nearly three quarters (74%) of the respondents preferred a laptop, and 24% preferred a tablet.
The balance of 2% preferred other devices such as handphones.
Those who chose laptops find it more useful because of its features and processing capabilities.
Meanwhile, 88% of those who said “tablets” are more concerned about casual activities such as browsing the web, watching videos and playing games, followed by its usefulness for interacting with others (see graphics).
Based on these findings, UCSI Poll Research Centre chief executive officer Assoc Prof Dr Pek Chuen Khee suggested that the government considers providing laptops for qualified university students as an additional option.
“Laptop is a better choice for studying as students need to work on Microsoft Office documents, for example.
“It is the more preferred device,” said Pek, who is also UCSI University Tan Sri Omar Policy Centre for Science, Technology and Innovation head of focus areas.
However, he added, there might be budget constraints as reliable laptops generally cost more than tablets.
Academy of Professors Malaysia Cluster of Education chair Prof Dr Rosna Awanghashim said although tablets are more practical due to their portability and user-friendly screens, laptops provide undergraduates with greater advantages such as having the processing and storage capabilities needed for heavy and long intensive work.
“Furthermore, laptops can offer everything tablets can do and more because laptops are often designed for more extensive and flexible computing than tablets,” she told Staredu.
However, she added it is important to take into account the needs of the student before deciding between a laptop and a mobile device.
“If its main purpose is for online learning (rather than completing labour-intensive assignments), tablets can be more practical and user-friendalso ly,” said Prof Rosna, who is an educational psychologist at Universiti Utara Malaysia.
The poll, conducted among 751 university students in Malaysia in January, also found that over 90% of the respondents agreed that the government should provide a free tabstulet or laptop for university dents from the B40 families.
When asked whether they agreed that the initiative should be extended to university students from M40 families, 61% of the respondents said “Yes”, while 16% of the respondents said “No”.
The other 23% of the respondents said “uncertain”.
“The Perantisiswa initiative can also be extended to students with many schooling siblings from the M40 families to ease the burden of the parents,” Pek said.
A total of Rm450mil had been allocated in Budget 2021 under the Perantisiswa Keluarga Malaysia to provide higher education students from the B40 group with mobile tablets.