KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 7 — The onset of the Covid-19 pandemic and extension of the movement control order (MCO) has severely disrupted lessons for tertiary students in institutes of higher learning around the country. Even as students start the first semester of the 2020/2021 university academic year, all teaching and learning programmes in universities are now required to be conducted online until 31 December 2020.

However, students from the B40 category are unable to afford a laptop to take their courses online. This issue is worsened in situations where there are more than one child needing to attend online classes simultaneously.

To help these students keep up with their lessons, the office of ADUN Bukit Gasing is embarking on a campaign called #Laptop4Siswa that aims to collect and distribute laptops for tertiary students in need.

ADUN of Bukit Gasing Rajiv Rishyakaran said, "We are calling out to the generous people out there to donate a laptop, either brand new or used, to these students. We also encourage cash donations which can be used to restore some of these laptops if need be.”

The #Laptop4Siswa campaign will be open for registration from now to 20 October 2020 and is open to all Malaysian students with a valid student identification card and/or letter of offer from their university. Students facing financial constraints and cannot afford to buy a laptop may apply online at this website. For verification purposes, all applying students need to provide details about their background, household income and enclose a copy of their parents’ payslip with their application.

If their donation application is successful, their laptop will be delivered by post and a tracking number will be sent to them for verification.

The campaign is made possible with the assistance of StandUp Malaysia a youth organisation led by Aliya Ashiqin and Rheanne Wong who believe in women and youth empowerment.

Its co-founder Aliya shared that students residing in hostels or university accommodations often have to share laptops for assignments or use the computer provided on campus. "However, it is different now that all students would need a laptop individually to attend online classes. That’s how we came up with the idea of #Laptop4Siswa. But we needed to get the word out to reach more donors and for that we needed all the help we can get,” she said.

Donors may contact the office of ADUN Bukit Gasing, (03-79547490 / help@bukitgasing.my) to arrange to drop off any laptops for donations that will be distributed accordingly to deserving students across Malaysia. They may also contact StandUp Malaysia (014 -669 1320 / standup.genderviolence@gmail.com) for enquiries on how and where to deliver the laptops. Donors can also sign up online to express their interest to donate. — SoyaCincau