A significant number of Malaysians live in semi urban and rural areas. Among these, the extreme rural populations are mostly located in the East Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak; some inhabitants of West Malaysia also live in remote locations. In many of these locations, infrastructure for electricity and telecommunications is still poor. Consequently schools in such locations are wanting in adequate facilities for teaching and learning. The Ministry of Education is aware of these problems and the ICT policy for education enunciated by the MOE is inclusive in its policy approach. Implementation of the policy is somewhat inadequate which prompted the current Minister of Education and Deputy Prime Minister, Tan Sri. Muhyiddin Yassin to declare his ‘Rural Education Transformation Plan'.

MOE's transformation plan includes a significant role of ICT. This is evidenced by an arrangement between the MOE and the Multimedia Super Corridor enterprise, which created or planned to create 15 Rural Smart Schools in the country (MSC Malaysia 2009).

Rural Smart School Programme Based on a decision made during a meeting between MDeC, the YB Minister of Education (MoE) and the higher management of MoE on 23 September, 2008, the meeting has agreed for MDeC to accelerate the making of all schools smart, focusing on the 50 rural schools. For Phase 1 in 2009, 15 schools have been selected for the implementation of the smart school programmes. The objectives of Rural Smart School Programmes as the following: To provide the schools with an end-to-end on-site smart school solution integrating ICT-based content and innovative tools in the teaching and learning. To develop the smart school implementation models for different categories of rural and under-served schools i.e. Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Cina, Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Tamil, Sekolah Felda, Sekolah Orang Asli, Sekolah Agama, Sekolah Menengah Harian and Sekolah Rendah Harian. The implementation is based on the findings from previous pilot projects and the making of 88 benchmarked smart schools, which shows that the 1 size fits all model is not suitable for implementation of smart school programmes in all schools. There is a need for specific models for different types of schools in the effort to make all schools smart. The implementation approaches as the following: To create a conducive learning environment. To innovate the teaching and learning process. To reduce management workload, increase productivity and improve professional development of teachers. To increase students' interest in learning through innovative and creative learning methods. To provide professional support for the implementation. Source: http://www.mscmalaysia.my/topic/Rural+Smart+School+Programme (Accessed on 1 May 2012)

The Rural Smart Schools programme is a laudable effort by the MOE to bring about change in our schools far removed from urban locations. Innovations of this nature are not without difficulties and critics will claim that the technologies can only be a solution if attention is also paid to the other issues such as teacher preparedness, curriculum and content as well as local autonomy in the way teachers can use the technologies to enhance the quality of the learning environment. Integration of ICT can promote significant changes in the practices of teaching and learning and can have benefits for students who are underachieving in school or are disaffected or excluded by school.

In an interesting study carried out in Australia on taking learning technologies to disadvantaged groups, researchers highlighted the following potential benefits that could be accrued to learners as well as teachers (Blackmore, Hardcastle, L, Bamblett, E and Owens, J 2003).

1. A shift from teacher centred to student centred learning that leads to a focus on individual difference and need.
2. An enhanced - even new - capacity for authentic tasks and problem solving that has greater relevance to a wider range of students.
3. Changing what we understand as learning outcomes to be more broadly inclusive of cognitive, social and affective outcomes such as improved achievement, motivation, self concept and changed attitudes to school and school work.
4. Making the processes of learning inextricable from the product, with multimodal processes and multiple products, that not only value a range of differences and learning styles but also are about improvement and reflection.
5. Capacity building among students in word-processing and other processes underpinning web development to edit, revise and produce high quality work.
6. Capacity of self-paced computer based skills development in foundational literacy and numeracy to supplement other teaching strategies, imparting students with a sense of competency.
7. Improved motivation and organisational skills for students who have difficulty with basic study practices.
8. Development of metacognitive skills that provide learning scaffolds for learning as students make links e.g. invisible connections between text and images in webpage development.
9. Reduced anxiety and safer environment for students to take risks with learning through possible anonymity of learning communities.
10. Authentic problem solving more likely to engage students with learning difficulties through multimedia dimensions with modelling, design features, data bases.
11. Development of multiple literacies that incorporate a wider range of human skills and attributes--visual, aesthetic, oral and aural--through the multimedia capacities of ICT.
12. Enhancement of students' sense of self esteem and confidence resulting from the capacity of ICT to produce quality cultural products to a wide range of audiences.
13. Capacity to develop cultural inclusiveness through working with local and global communities both virtually and face to face.

All of these benefits can be achieved if policy makers come to terms with three guiding principles, which are (i) the nature of a more inclusive curriculum, (ii) a pedagogy that responds to individual needs and learning styles and (iii) assessments that further recognises a wider range of student interest and capacities.