Five Sabah primary schools picked for pilot digital project

KOTA KINABALU: Five primary schools in Sabah have been chosen for the Digital School Pilot Project, says the Education Ministry.

The programme is aimed at producing more digital-savvy pupils who are capable of using technology in an integrated, creative, innovative, responsible and ethical manner, Education director-general Azman Adnan said.

The five schools are SK Lapasan in Kota Kinabalu, SK Pengalat Kecil and SK Buang Sayang in Papar, as well as SK Tansau and SK Pekan Putatan in Penampang.

The maiden project in Sabah will see a collaboration between the Sabah Education Department and Yayasan Didik Negara (YDN), an Education Ministry-managed foundation, to support the Digital Education Policy.

Azman said 1,350 Didik Tab tablets would be given to the five schools which will be provided to Year 1 to Year 5 pupils for use as digital textbooks.

“The Didik Tab tablet is a device that has uploaded primary school digital textbooks and can be accessed offline,” he said when officiating the project’s launch at SK Lapasan here yesterday, BK reported.

The event was held in conjunction with his working visit to Sabah on behalf of Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek.

Also present were Higher Education Deputy Minister Datuk Mustapha Sakmud, who is also the Sepanggar MP, and Sabah Education director Datuk Raisin Saidin.

Azman said the tablets were a form of zakat (tithe) payment from Permodalan Nasional Bhd to the Sabah Islamic Religious Council and channelled to the YDN, with the total allocation amounting to RM455,000.

He believes that the digital school pilot project is an important step in providing access to pupils to empower interactive learning.

In addition, he said, by using digital learning devices and applications, teachers could also conduct more interesting and effective teaching sessions.

He urged all parties to support digital education as an important tool in schools to produce pupils at an optimum level in line with the current rapid digital and technological development.

“I believe the use of technology in the education field will be able to nurture and produce more excellent and distinguished generations for the country’s sustainable development,” he said.