Schools charge students to get them on Akhilesh's laptop list

Chief minister Akhilesh Yadav and his party may be taking pride in saying that the government has fulfilled the Samajwadi Party’s poll promise to give laptops to students free of cost. But there are some who are hell-bent on ensuring that the machines are not really free.

UP government has been receiving complaints that many schools were charging money from the students to include their names in the list to be submitted to the authorities for the laptops.

At least one person, who was a clerk at an inter college in Amethi, has been arrested by the police after complaints came to light that the school management was charging
Rs 1,000 from each student for including their names in the list.

The clerk, identified as Krishna Gopal, told the police that the college management had asked him to charge the students, police said here.

Rs 1.58 lakh recovered

Police also recovered Rs 1.58 lakh from his possession.

Similar complaints have also been received from other places as well, sources said.
At some places, the students had created a ruckus and clashed with college officers after their names had been struck off the list that was submitted to the district authorities.
“The list is prepared several times. Names are included after the student pays
the charges as fixed by the college administration,” a source said.

Govt acts

The state government has taken a very serious view of the reports and directed the authorities concerned to ensure that not a penny is taken from the students who will be given the laptops.

Providing free laptops to every student, who has cleared class 12 and tablets to every
student, who clears class 10 are the dream projects of Akhilesh.

The schemes, which were considered to be major reasons behind his party’s success in the last year’s assembly polls, were his brainchild.

The government plans to distribute free laptops to 15 lakh students in the current year.