Varsity students to get Aakash tablet free
Decision to deliver e-learning experience to all, says Kapil Sibal
It’s good news for students in colleges and universities across the country as the Union government plans to give the low cost “Aakash” tablet to them across institutions for free.
“We are planning to distribute Aakash tablets to students free of cost to deliver e-learning experience to one and all,” HRD and Communications & IT Minister Kapil Sibal said at a summit organised by Indian Semiconductor Association in Bangalore.
Sibal clarified that the tablet, costing Rs 1,500 would get a government subsidy of Rs 750. The balance Rs 750 rest would be borne by respective educational institutions, making it literally free for students.
The minister also said that the government has plans to create an ecosystem for the end-to-end production of the tablet in the country. For other buyers Aakash tablet will cost Rs 2,500, as was planned earlier.
“Our country needs to improve in the manufacturing field and we are taking initiatives to set it right and give it a better foothold,” Sibal said.
The low cost tablet, set to change the Indian digital landscape, was unveiled in October 2011 and was available for online booking only in December. The minister had then said that the rich have access to the digital world, the poor and ordinary have been excluded.
Aakash will end that digital divide. However, the tablet, manufactured by the Canadian firm Datawind, received intense criticism when it failed compliance tests by the Indian Institute of technology, Rajasthan, which showed certain glitches. Thus the government’s plan to acquire 1 lakh such gadgets had come to a halt. As result, the delivery schedule, which was to begin on February 2012, is getting delayed.
Meanwhile, the government of Andhra Pradesh has reportedly sent a proposal to Sibal for buying 10,000 such tablets. It was decided by the Andhra Pradesh government that those tablets would be provided to the state universities, engineering and polytechnic colleges.
Even the University of Mumbai has reportedly received about 25,000 booking requests for the tablet. According to news reports, the requests have come from its 90 colleges and departments.
This scheme to avail of these tablets was extended by the Centre and was extended by the HRD ministry for all the universities.
