KOTA BARU, March 19 — The Education Ministry is in the process of distributing 50,000 laptops to all schools nationwide to facilitate learning using digital textbooks.

Its director-general, Datuk Pkharuddin Ghazali, said the ministry was also finding a suitable formula to distribute the supplies so that every school receives them.

"We are in the process of procuring the laptops before distributing them to all schools,” he told reporters after inspecting the first day of school for the 2023/2024 session at Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Chung Hwa, here today.

A total of 1.53 million students started their school session today, involving 3,044 schools in Group A states, namely Johor, Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu.

Elaborating, Pkharuddin said the use of digital textbooks needs to be supported with suitable electronic devices, adding that the ministry has produced over 70 per cent of digital textbooks since the initiative was introduced in 2021.

"God willing, we are moving towards implementing a digital education policy, and it will be brought to the Cabinet.

"If approved, our direction will be towards digital education so that our children can have more interesting learning resources which can have a big impact on their understanding,” he said.

Meanwhile, when asked whether the ministry will revert the school session to January, Pkharuddin said it is still working on the matter.

"We understand the wishes of the community, parents and perhaps some teachers who want the school session to start in January due to certain factors.

"It will take some time, and we have to sacrifice holidays which is also important to give students a break. And if the holidays can be shortened, maybe in 2024, the school will start a week earlier than this year,” he said. — Bernama