Cong promises free laptops to students in poll-bound Gujarat

Ahmedabad/Rajkot, Sept 4: Continuing with poll promises in the election-bound state, Congress on Tuesday announced it would provide free laptops to every student in Gujarat after class XII.

The party has also promised to "overhaul" the eduction sector in the state, saying that Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi had ruined the education system in the last 10 years.

Congress has also promised reservation in private schools for poor students and 30 per cent fee concession to them.

"If Congress comes to power in the next Assembly elections, we will provide free laptops, build hostels for students in cities, build sports complexes in every taluka of the state and set up a university in tribal areas of the state," Congress president Arjun Modhvadia said announcing sixth point of "Gujarat People Development Vision-2012".

"The Congress will also ask private and self-finance schools and colleges to keep the reservation for poor students, form a fund called 'Vidhya Nidhi', from which they will be given fee concessions of 30 per cent to study in private schools. No schools without playground or library will be given approval," Modhvadia said.

Earlier, Congress has promised houses to poor and middle-class housewives at concessional rates in urban areas and a plot of land to poor and middle-class women in rural areas.

"In the last 17 years of the BJP rule, the party has turned education into business in the state by promoting institutes in the name of self-finance colleges, where fees are too high and common man cannot afford to educate their children," Vaghela, who is heading the campaign committee of the state Congress, said.

Announcing sixth point of Congress' "Gujarat People Development Vision-2012", former Gujarat deputy chief minister Narhari Amin today said in Rajkot that Congress has planned several schemes to improve the level of education in Gujarat, "which has been ruined by Modi government's mismanagement".

Congress will also set up 'Gujarat Olympic Academy' (GOA) to produce world-class players and will appoint best coaches in GOA, Amin said.

From tomorrow (Teachers day), Congress would launch a twenty-day drive under 'Save Education' and hold various awareness programmes on a college campus "to create awareness about Modi government's failure in improving education in the state," he said.

PTI