GEORGE TOWN, April 16 — The National Union of the Teaching Profession (NUTP) today inked a partnership deal with YTL Foundation and telecommunications provider YES to provide teachers with free Internet data.

The memorandum for the partnership was signed by NUTP president Aminuddin Awang and YTL Communications managing director Datuk Yeoh Seok Hong at AC Hotel, Penang here, which will see 230,000 NUTP members each receiving a free SIM Card with 40GB of data, delivered free of charge to their homes.

Aminuddin said that the initiative was necessary for Malaysia to adopt virtual teaching and learning amid the Covid-19 pandemic so that education would not come to a grinding halt.

He said the first step of the initiative was to ensure that teachers, as the frontliners of teaching and learning, must have access to mobile data to conduct online learning.

"The next step for the initiative is to get devices and data to the most needy students in the country as there is an urgency to make up for the learning loss experienced by students all over Malaysia as a result of the disruption to school since last March,” he said in his speech.

Aminuddin said NUTP would further support YTL Foundation’s "Learn From Home” initiative by nominating B40 families who are in need of smartphones and Internet data for learning.

"We are grateful that YTL Foundation has also stepped up to support this effort by providing free smartphones and data, as well as free learning content available to the B40 families,” he added. — Bernama