BANGI: Building a greater online presence has always been the goal of PTTI Group chief executive officer Siti Farhana Abu Osman, 32, whose company offers tuition classes and seminars to upper secondary school students in the Science stream.
This was in line with the company's vision of becoming the Netflix of education by obtaining two million subscribers by 2028.
Three years after its establishment in 2015, PTTI started a new module to allow Science stream students preparing for the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) examination to attend tuition classes and seminars virtually.
The Movement Control Order (MCO) and Conditional MCO, however, prompted PTTI to intensify its online tuition classes.
This was not only to ensure the company's sustainability but also to ensure that SPM students were better prepared, she said.
"Among our plans this year is to intensify the number of online classes.
"Going online is the way forward since it will not only enable PTTI to provide tuition classes and seminars online to students, but also help us to reach more students.
"The shift in our business module, from the traditional setting to online, was almost seamless when the MCO started on March 18.
"This was because we were already moving in that direction," said Siti Farhana, a tutor.
Although the number of students for the company's face-to-face classes dropped from 600 to 500 due to the MCO and CMCO, Siti Farhana said PTTI recorded a significant growth in the number of students subscribing to its virtual classes.
"Before the MCO and CMCO came into force, the number of students subscribing to our online classes was only about 100.
"About two weeks into the first phase of the MCO, PTTI was flooded with enquiries about its online classes and seminars.
"We now have 1,331 students in our virtual classes, including those from Sabah and Sarawak," said Siti Farhana, a Master in Science (Nanotechnology and Material Science) graduate from Universiti Putra Malaysia.
Following the enforcement of the MCO, Siti Farhana and her team ensured PTTI had the capability to conduct classes and seminars online.
"We made sure our tutors had white boards and other facilities to conduct tuition online."
Apart from online tutorial classes, it has conducted Seminar Online Proven Results, Seminar Intelligence Enhancement Learning and Pure Technical Science Seminar.
PTTI, she said, had attracted more than 21,000 participants in online seminars, including sessions conducted for free during the MCO and CMCO periods.
Siti Farhana said: "Since the future is uncertain, PTTI believes that going online is the way forward.
"Parents can be assured that their children's preparation for SPM will not be affected.
"Our online platform allows parents to check on their children's performance and whether they are paying attention in class."
She said PTTI would continue to improve its quality through feedback from students and their parents.
Siti Farhana, through PTTI, is among the recipients of the financial assistance provided by the government under the Prihatin Economic Stimulus Package and the Economic Recovery Plan (Penjana).
She said PTTI had benefited from Prihatin, with 27 of the company's 32 staff members entitled to RM1,200 per person under the wage subsidy programme.
The programme was extended under Penjana, with PTTI receiving a RM600 subsidy for every eligible employee.
Siti Farhana said: "The wage subsidy programme has helped PTTI manage its operating costs during this challenging period.
"This is because staff wages make up between 30 and 40 per cent of PTTI's operating cost.
"I believe this is also the case with other tuition class pro-viders."
She also thanked SME Corp for providing a kick-start grant for PTTI under the Tunas Usahawan Belia Bumiputera in 2014.