Fake: Govt has not announced free smartphones for students

New Delhi, Aug 24: A post has gone viral in which it is claimed that the Central Government is going to give free android phones to students.

This has been circulated widely on the social media. The claim is that since the education of students has been affected due the lockdown in wake of the pandemic, the government is helping students by giving them free smartphones.

It says that education of students has been affected due to the closure of schools and colleges due to coronavirus. Hence the government is giving free android smartphones to all the students.

दावा: कोरोना वायरस के कारण स्कूल और कॉलेज बंद होने के कारण छात्रों की शिक्षा प्रभावित हुई है, इसलिए सरकार सभी छात्रों को मुफ्त एंड्रॉइड स्मार्टफोन दे रही है #PIBfactcheck: यह दावा फर्जी है, केंद्र सरकार ने ऐसी कोई घोषणा नहीं की है. pic.twitter.com/LkFA2rMtSn

— PIB Fact Check (@PIBFactCheck) August 24, 2020

This message has been forwarded several times and the message also has a link asking students to register on it. It would not be advisable to click on the link as it could well steal data from you.

The Press Information Bureau has rubbished this claim. Calling the claim fake, the PIB said that the Centre has not made any such announcement.