MP questions price of computers in state govt’s bulk purchase

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KUCHING: Bandar Kuching MP Dr Kelvin Yii thanked Education, Science and Technological Research Minister Datuk Amar Michael Manyin Jawong on the transparency in his answer to important queries on the state government’s intention to purchase the Raspberry Pi for primary schools in Sarawak.

However, Yii said his answers opened up more questions and also revealed the deal for the purchase of about 10 thousand of Raspberry Pi for RM 1,191 each including a 19.5-inch Monitor, keyboard, mouse and preloaded software is actually inflated.

Dr Kelvin Yii

He pointed out that the state government’s purchase of 10,100 Pi packages to 1,265 primary schools statewide actually cost much more than what is being sold in the market.

“The current market price for a Pi4 4GB is RM220, an SD card which is priced around RM15, a 19.5-monitor at around RM250 and a keyboard and mouse which are priced at around RM100 depending on specs.

“All in all, each full set should cost around RM600 plus which is almost half or 50 per cent of the price quoted by the state government,” he said in a statement yesterday.

He added that since the state government is buying in bulk, the prices should be more competitive.

“That is why it is important to know if the sourcing and procurement of such computers were done by open tender or not, in order to obtain a more competitive price.”

He noted that based on the current market, the state government can purchase a 64-bit PC which runs on Windows 10 on Celeron N4100 for around RM800.

“When this is purchase in bulk, we may even get a cheaper price than that.

“Furthermore, a majority of teachers and students are more familiar with such OS and there is no need for initial training which may be an extra hurdle for its implementation.

“This hardware is more future proof as it can be upgraded with Graphic Processor Units (GPUS), Solid State Hardrive (SSD) if we need to run more intensive courses such as 3D Modelling, Graphic Designs and so on,” he said.

He also said the installation of software such as Windows 10 Education is not as expensive as claimed by Manyin .

“The Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Research can actually write to Microsoft to apply for free license which is provided for public schools.

“In this period of Covid-19, virtual learning will be much easier on a proper Windows 10 machine. Many softwares including ‘Zoom’ is not officially supported on the Raspbian OS and need to be run through browser workaround,” he said.

He said with a normal PC, the government can save cost on the extra trainings to familiarise teachers with Raspberry Pi.

“At the end of the day, why create hurdles for implementation, entry barriers, unfamiliarity, different training, call centres and so on, when there are other affordable alternatives that create less hurdles such as these. We must be breaking entry barrier, not creating more,” he added.

He thus suggested Manyin to set up a dialogue with different stakeholders especially teachers who are on the ground and are teaching STEM subjects in rural areas.

“Some have tried deploying Raspberry Pi in their schools including those in the rural areas and many have given feedback that it is not practical.

“All these questions are important and while I commend the Minister’s initial transparency, I hope they provide further clarification on this.

This not only involves public money, but more importantly the education of our children, and thus a proper decision must be made taking into account the local context, feedbacks from stakeholders and suitability of it in providing a holistic learning environment for our children,” he said.

Yii noted that not all teachers are familiar with Raspberry Pi computers and training and follow-up sessions ought to be given to them to ensure that they know how to utilise the computers to teach their students as these computers operate on the less familiar Linux Operating System (OS).

He said though Raspberry Pi computers can open Microsoft Office documents through the Open Source Office Suite, many of these software do not run as smooth on Raspberry Pi compared to normal Microsoft based laptops.

“If the teachers do not understand or know how to fully utilise it, the students are the ones that get short-changed. This is not only an extra technical hurdle, but also logistical hurdle especially to provide training, maintenance and follow-up especially in the rural areas,” he said.