Andhra Pradesh Government Said to Drop Laptops for Students, Plans to Distribute Tablets Instead

A number of lakh college students of lessons 9 to 12 finding out in authorities colleges in Andhra Pradesh had been on Monday left upset because the state couldn’t maintain its promise of delivering them laptop computer computer systems.

Authorities sources now say the proposal to distribute laptops has been dropped as “they’re expensive and plenty of digital studying apps do not work on them”.

Now, the federal government is considering to distribute solely Tabs (pill computer systems) to college students of sophistication 8.

Every Tab, loaded with digital studying content material, will value the federal government Rs. 12,000. “We’re planning to distribute the Tabs by September this yr,” a senior schooling official stated.

As the category 8 college students must carry the identical Tab to the additional lessons, a laptop computer is not going to be required, in accordance with the official.

Each pupil stepping into class 8 in authorities and aided colleges annually shall be given the Tab.

Final yr, Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy introduced that college students of lessons 9 to 12 may go for laptop computer computer systems in lieu of the Rs. 15,000 dole (now decreased by Rs. 2,000) underneath Ammavodi scheme, which is supposed to encourage moms to ship their youngsters to colleges.

He stated the laptops can be delivered within the 2022 tutorial yr.

Accordingly, 8,21,655 college students of lessons 9 to 12 opted for laptops as a substitute of the money dole. Over 1.10 lakh of those college students had been in any other case coated underneath Vasati Deevena, one other freebie scheme.

However the authorities couldn’t ship the promised laptops, because it didn’t strike a take care of the suppliers over costs.

Final week, Schooling Minister Botsa Satyanarayana stated they had been negotiating the value with the suppliers and it might be finalised and the laptops delivered to college students together with Ammavodi.

Nonetheless, the CM solely launched the distribution of the money freebie, within the third spherical of Ammavodi, on Monday by way of an official’s laptop computer.

In his handle on the Ammavodi occasion, the CM solely spoke about distribution of Tabs to class 8 college students and didn’t point out laptops.

“I’m in school 10 and opted for a laptop computer as a substitute of money. However now we’re informed that there isn’t any laptop computer. I’ll have to attend for an additional yr, if they offer it in junior inter (class 11),” lamented Ok Naga Prabha of Guntur.

Authorities sources stated the duty of procuring laptops was entrusted to the AP Know-how Companies. The APTS sought to buy every laptop computer for Rs 18,000, relying on the configuration.

Nonetheless, the suppliers had been stated to have quoted a worth of Rs 26,000 per laptop computer, making it unaffordable for the federal government.

“There was additionally the issue of provide. The required variety of devices weren’t available on account of scarce manufacturing, attributable to scarcity of chipsets,” a high official coping with the difficulty informed PTI.

The additional monetary burden on the state can be Rs 657 crore if laptops had been bought on the charge quoted by the suppliers, he identified.