HAVING the welfare of students from the B40 group at heart, Balik Pulau MP Muhammad Bakhtiar Wan Chik has initiated a free tablet giveaway programme recently to help lighten the burden of their families.
Muhammad Bakhtiar and his team were greeted warmly when they visited 10 families in Balik Pulau to hand over A7 Samsung tablets to the deserving students on June 11.
“We are contributing these tablets to those students from the lower income group who are hardworking, have performed well in their studies and have good attendance in school.
“The programme not only caters to students who reside in Balik Pulau but also students who live elsewhere but study in schools located in this constituency.
“Any parent who is a Balik Pulau voter is also eligible to apply for this programme.
“We had earlier distributed a total of 120 tablets to students from both primary and secondary schools. Now, we giving out 10 more,’’ said Bakhtiar during the visit.
According to Muhammad Bakhtiar, the programme was made possible through the donations by some well-wishers.
“We managed to collect RM70,000 after we started the programme and now an additional RM25,000 from our generous donors.
“We are now aiming to raise more fund (RM100,000) to enable us to equip more students with smart devices so that they can take part in online learning smoothly.
“Those who would like to donate can contact Nurul Iman at 013-5338645, or bank in to ‘Akaun Khas Pusat Khidmat Parlimen Balik Pulau’ at 557081060608 (Maybank),” said Muhammad Bakhtiar.
Apart from the tablet giveaway programme, Muhammad Bakhtiar said a total of 10 refurbished laptops were also distributed to students from higher learning institutions.
He also urged the Federal Government to speed up the laptop contribution (150,000 laptops) to students from B40 group as promised.
“So far only some 12,000 laptops were given out,’’ he added.
Meanwhile, Mohammad Redwan Azar, a Form 4 Science stream student was relieved to have received the tablet.
“I am delighted because now with the tablet, it will be easier for me to learn than using a phone.
“My desire is to continue to excel in my studies and get admitted to Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) to pursue a course in Chemistry or Biology,” said Redwan when he was approached by Buletin Mutiara.
Another recipient, Nurul Alis Jamir, who will be taking her SPM examination this year, said using the tablet for online learning would certainly be more comfortable.
“I aim to score straight A’s for SPM and enrol myself in the Malaysian Matriculation Programme at the institution in Negri Sembilan.
“I want to follow in my brother’s footsteps by pursuing medicine at Universiti Malaya,” said Nurul, who scored eight A’s for her PT3 examination.
Homemaker Yogeswary Muniandy, expressed her gratitude to Muhammad Bakhtiar for his thoughtfulness in coming up with the programme.
“I am extremely happy that YB has granted our request for a tablet for my daughter
Keshhini Jithendren (Year Two).
“She feels so excited and I believe it will be more conducive for her to learn online using the tablet.
“Keshhini is my eldest daughter and I have another two kids. This assistance will ease our burden financially since my husband is the sole bread winner in the family,” said Yogeswary.
For Chia Yan, she said her daughter Lok Yin Ern (Year 3) could now enjoy using a better and comfortable device to study online.
“My daughter usually uses my phone for her learning from morning till 1 o’clock in the afternoon.
“Now with the tablet, it will even boost her interest to study online,” said Chia Yan, a mother of four.
Story by Tanushalini Moroter
Pix by Chan Kok Kuan