KUALA LUMPUR: The Education Ministry is carrying out a review on the effectiveness of 1BestariNet which provides internet access to schools, especially in rural areas.
Its Minister Dr Maszlee Malik said the review was meant to help schools in increasing their internet access, whether in urban or rural areas nationwide as well as improve their teaching and learning process for teachers and students.
"The Education Ministry is carrying out a review on the effectiveness and direction of the 1bestarinet project, which was originally undertaken by Mimos and is now managed by a third party committee comprising experts from UiTM (Universiti Teknologi Mara) and other institutes of higher learning.
"The final report will be presented to stakeholders and utilised to craft a plan to implement a more innovative teaching and learning improve by integrating suitable technology to boost its efficiency at schools," he said during Minister's Question Time at the Dewan Rakyat today.
He was replying to a question from Datuk Seri Hasan Arifin (BN-Umno-Rompin) on the rate of internet access made possible by the programme.
Maszlee adds that there are 10,190 schools nationwide which had been provided with internet access to ensure teaching and learning is improved with the application of information technology and communications, in line with the strides made in the 21st century.
He said that out of that number, 9,786 schools located in both urban and rural areas use the 1BestariNet while the remainder is provided internet access via other providers.
He said the ministry is aware that there are 1,578 schools that have low internet access especially in rural areas.
He also told the Dewan Rakyat that the government has already paid RM530.3 million for 1BestariNet for January until October this year.