The deadline for these appeals closed on Dec 31 last year.

Deputy communications and digital minister Teo Nie Ching said 25,000 of the appeals have been approved so far.

“The rest are still being evaluated by the respective institutions of higher learning (IPT). They will verify whether they are from B40 (low-income bracket) families.

“The ministry will do the distribution of the devices,” she told reporters at Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra here today.

Earlier, she presented devices under the programme to PerantiSiswa recipients from 13 IPTs and several schools in the Kulai parliamentary constituency.

Teo, who is Kulai MP, said 301,737 tablets, or 83% of the 362,016 applications approved, had been distributed to date.

“For the state of Johor, 29,461 applications have been approved and of that number, 23,435 have been distributed to eligible students,” she said.

On whether the ministry had received reports on sale of the devices, Teo said the last time it received such reports was in November when 13 were reported to have been sold.

“Since then, no cases have been reported and we hope there will be no more,” she said.

Asked if the PerantiSiswa programme will continue this year, Teo said she could not comment on that because she had to wait for the government’s decision and whether it would be included in Budget 2023 to be tabled in Parliament next month.

The PerantiSiswa programme aims to help in the learning process of IPT students in the B40 group.