Haryana: Class 10-12 students to get free tablets

Chandigarh, Apr 15: The Haryana government will distribute tablets to students of classes 10-12 in May, Education Minister Kanwar Pal said here on Thursday. The devices will have preloaded content, along with personalised and adaptive learning software, and free internet data will also be provided to the students, he said, according to news agency PTI.

A meeting of the high-powered purchase committee chaired by Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar here on Thursday approved the purchase of goods and items to be procured by various departments at a cost of over Rs 100 crore.

Three proposals, two from the education department and one from the power department, were tabled in the meeting, an official statement said. The education minister said the procurement of personalised and adaptive learning software costing more than Rs 5 crore for the higher classes was approved in the meeting. "Besides this, the procurement of around five lakh data SIM cards, costing Rs 47 crore, was also approved by the committee. These SIM cards, to be inserted into the tablets, will have a daily data limit of 2 GB.

"Also, in the month of May, around 2.5 lakh tabs will be distributed to students studying in classes 10-12," he said. Replying to a question raised in the budget session of the Haryana Assembly last month, Kanwar Pal had said digital materials, e-books, test videos and study materials related to class-wise syllabus in government schools will be available on the tablets which will be given to the students.

The scheme aims to bridge the gap in digital learning for most of the students studying in government schools who are from economically weaker and deprived sections and are unable to afford devices like smartphones and tablets.

(PTI)