“The 1BestariNet project should be thoroughly investigated, specifically on whether the contractor had been selected properly.
“I think the project was not carried out properly by the contractor, and that’s why it was a failure. We want answers,” he told FMT when contacted.
The project was awarded to YTL Communications Sdn Bhd via an open tender.
The 1BestariNet project by the Education Ministry was aimed at providing government schools with high-speed 4G connectivity and an online learning platform with the Frog VLE (Virtual Learning Environment).
Ali was responding to an earlier report that the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) had asked the Auditor-General (A-G) for a second review of 1BestariNet, a project to provide Internet connectivity to over 10,000 government schools nationwide.
Ali pointed out that it was absolutely farcical that the 1BestariNet project had failed, considering that not all schools in the country were selected to participate in the programme.
“This is embarrassing because not all schools were given this opportunity. And yet, it failed.
“We are very concerned and unhappy. There was a lot of money spent on this project, but it had failed in terms of delivery.”
The RM4.1 billion 1BestariNet project was introduced by former deputy prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin, who was also the education minister at the time.
Meanwhile, Parent Action Group for Education (PAGE) chairman Noor Azimah Rahim also echoed similar sentiments, pointing out that teachers simply lacked the ability to utilise electronic devices to teach students effectively.
“After several attempts to introduce 21st century classrooms, we believe that only some teachers were ready for this digital transformation. The majority were not.”
She also lamented that although phase one of the project was not completed, phase two had been allowed to proceed.
Earlier, the PAC had asked the Education Ministry to cancel the 1BestariNet project as the first phase of the project had been poorly delivered.
The committee had found that the first phase of the project, although completed at a cost of RM633 million, did not yield the expected results as schoolchildren, teachers and parents still could not access the broadband system.
However, Noor Azimah said that schools under the programme should be allowed to continue with it.
“We must salvage what we can. The schools that have embraced the digital approach should be allowed to continue and develop.
“For the other schools, it may be too much of an effort and cost to pursue it further.”