Previously, the Ministry of Education in Malaysia announced that physical textbooks would be replaced with digital ones in 2019 and students would be able to use their own mobile devices to access these books. The first week of the school year has already started and lower secondary students can start downloading and reading these textbooks on the free mobile app, KPM e-Textbook Reader.
Source: Textbook MOE
This app was actually launched back in 2014 based on its stats but now that the ministry has decided to move on to digitalising textbooks, it looks like this app will really come in handy! Deputy Education Minister, Teo Nie Ching has also mentioned before that that instead of the current PDF files, they would develop more interactive ones in the future.
However, for now, students will be using EPUB (electronic publication) files instead as it is much better than PDFs. EPUBs have smaller file sizes and they are compatible with all screen sizes so students would not have to zoom in and out or strain their eyes too much when studying. The mobile app also states that it “reads EPUB files made for Malaysian primary and secondary education. It is designed to have features that support rich media content, and mobile ability.”
Source: App Store
According to Sinchew, these digital textbooks are ready to be used and more teaching content for other forms will be expanded in the future. Students and teachers are urged to register with the e-textbook website and download them into their personal mobile devices.
Here’s how you can do it:
1. Register or login here
2. For Android users, download the app here and for iOS users, you can download it here
3. Fill in your personal details along with the school’s details as well
4. Search for the textbooks you need and download them into your mobile device
Source: Google Play Store
There have been mixed reviews about this app’s functionality on both Google Play Store and App Store with some users saying that it is very easy to use while others said that it seems rather buggy. Hopefully, any problems will be solved soon!
What do you think about this mobile app? Let us know in the comments section!
Also read: Starting 2019, Form 1 to 3 Students Can Bring Computer Devices to School to Replace Textbooks
