The Minister of Communications and Multimedia, YB Tan Sri Datuk Seri Panglima Haji Annuar Bin Haji Musa launched the new Learn From Home free data programme earlier this week for students in higher education nationwide at Politeknik Kota Bharu.
The Learn From Home free data programme is part of an educational initiative from YTL Foundation in collaboration with YES and FrogAsia to provide students with free smartphones, YES data plans and learning resources to enable them to stay connected and studying during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The higher education students are able to start the new academic year with free 7GB data per month from YES until 30 September 2022. Under this programme, students and faculty staff from the institutions of higher education involved can apply for the free YES SIM cards online and have them delivered directly to them. Universities and polytechnics participating in the programme will provide assistance to their students to apply for this special plan.
In addition to the free data under the Learn From Home programme, students can top up additional data under the extremely attractive YES Kasi Up plans or they can also enjoy 20GB of data for 90 days for only RM30 per month, with an additional 1GB of data per day for productivity apps under the Pakej YES Remaja Keluarga.
Minister of Communications and Multimedia YB Tan Sri Datuk Seri Panglima Haji Annuar Bin Haji Musa said, “This idea which was a culmination of my discussion with YTL and the Pakej YES Remaja Keluarga Malaysia will provide an affordable data plan which will enable them to conduct their online classes in line with their needs. The free data plan of 7GB through the 4G Learn From Home network will benefit these students not only in their education but also their other daily needs. I hope to see more such joint efforts between telcos and educational institutions as the younger people are our future and it will never be a waste investing in our future leaders.”
YTL Foundation Programme Director Dato’ Kathleen Chew said, “We are truly delighted to work with higher education institutions to provide the free data plans to even more students around the country. We have also extended the free data plans for school going children under the Learn From Home Initiative until September 2022 to support them with home based learning. The pandemic has taught us how important it is for everyone to have access to the internet. We need to continue to work to close the digital divide so that none of our children will be left behind. We are grateful that under the Jendela programme, the Government and MCMC are working on bringing connectivity to more remote parts of the country.”
Director of Politeknik Kota Bharu Haji Rosli Bin Idris said, “The pandemic has caused a sudden shift away from the classroom to online learning. In times like this, we are thankful to YTL Foundation and YES who have come on board to partner with us and other higher education institutions to offer free data to students and also to our faculty. We look forward to working together to ensure that our students, especially those from B40 families will receive the free YES SIM cards and data.”
To date, under the Learn From Home Initiative, more than 18 million GB of free data, 450,000 free SIM cards and 100,000 free smartphones have been distributed to students who most need them. The programme was extended to the 230,000 teacher members of the National Union of the Teaching Profession (NUTP) in April this year to help them keep in touch with their students and conduct online lessons.