AP government school Class 8 students, teachers to get Tablets PCs

There are 4,38,216 Class-8 students in government-run schools and another 12,324 in aided institutions. The government initially announced that the Tabs would be distributed to students in September but now the process would take at least 60 days.

The Andhra Pradesh government has announced its decision to distribute tablet computers (tablets) to students and teachers of Class 8. The total cost to be incurred for this initiative is INR 643 crore. The decision was taken in a state cabinet meeting that took place on Wednesday under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy. The cabinet approved the proposal for the distribution of Tabs. Over 4.50 lakh students and 50,194 teachers in 8,395 schools will get the Samsung T220 Lite Tablet PC, loaded with content from an ed-tech platform in the next two months.

There are 4,38,216 Class-8 students in government-run schools and another 12,324 in aided institutions. The government initially announced that the Tabs would be distributed to students in September but now the process would take at least 60 days.

Earlier, the government proposed to give the gadgets only to students of Class 8, but the Cabinet now extended the facility to the teachers in government and aided schools as well. The government entered into an agreement with the vendor on September 5 under which each Tab with a 64 GB memory card will be supplied at INR 12,843, as against the market price of INR 16,446.

Reports suggest that the vendor will deliver 50 per cent of the ordered quantity within 30 days and the balance in further 30 days. Originally, the state government promised to distribute laptop computers to students from Classes 9 to 12 (Intermediate) in lieu of the INR 13,000 per annum 'Amma Vodi' dole. The plan was aborted after the suppliers quoted a base price of INR 24,000 for each laptop.

Soon the government came up with the idea to distribute Tablets to Class 8 students every year from now on. State Information Minister Ch S V Gopala Krishna said at the post-Cabinet media briefing that the Tabs scheme was independent of Amma Vodi.

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