This week, the internet has been buzzing about a primary school student’s YES mobile phone which had allegedly burst into flames while attending his online classes earlier on Monday (14th June). The terrifying incident was shared by his aunt on her Facebook page which has since gone viral.
Apparently, he had received the free subsidised phone under the Jaringan Prihatin Programme by the Perak state government. Undoubtedly, the shocking revelation has in turn sparked a major concern among the public.
After the news was brought to light, Perak Menteri Besar (MB) Datuk Saarani Mohamad has come forth to address the case. In speaking to Harian Metro, he implied that there’s no need to conduct an investigation on the situation, as he said that “only one (phone) had (probably) caught fire out of the 100,000 models distributed by the YTL Foundation nationwide”.
At the same time, Saarani also revealed that his party welcomes other companies that would like to work together to contribute for the convenience of students to follow the home-based teaching and learning (PdPR) sessions.
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“I am very grateful to YTL Foundation, and at the same time would welcome any other companies that would like to give free contributions to the state government, especially to the underprivileged people in any form of assistance for learning purposes,” the Lenggong-born politician was quoted as saying.
Earlier this week, it was revealed that the Perak government had given out 20,000 low-spec phones to students from B40 families under its Tuisyen Cikgu Saarani (TCS) programme. The devices are intended solely to enable online learning (PdPR) among students.
According to the Higher Education and Human Resources Committee chairman Ahmad Saidi Mohammad Daud, the government had intentionally distributed low-quality devices as an attempt to prevent students from using them for gaming.
Saidi’s statement, however, was met with tons of backlash from many netizens. Many had pointed out that the free phone donation was an “insult” to the B40 community.
Sources: Harian Metro, MMO.
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