VIJAYAWADA: Officials of the Women and Child Welfare Department are planning to set up internet facility in all the government working women’s hostels across the State. As a pilot project, the officials wanted to start with Krishna district, which has two hostels, one in Vijayawada and the other in Machilipatnam.
As several women staying in these hostels are preparing for competitive examinations, the free internet facilities will be of great help in their preparations.
Across the State in all 13 districts, there are about 20 working women’s hostels, which are being run by the Women and Child Welfare Department. All these hostels are quite affordable and a lot of young women from poorer sections of the society prefer these.
A majority of these hostels are in pathetic conditions, located in old buildings with more number of people than the sanctioned intake, the officials are hence planning to give these a new makeover. As part of the initiative, the officials have come up with the idea to provide free internet services.
Speaking to TNIE, a senior official of the department said, “The working women’s hostels run by the government always had a bad impression till now. But we want to improve the facilities. In our observation, we found that girls from poor backgrounds, going for a course or coaching away from their home, stay at these hostels. As many as 90 per cent of the candidates are either preparing for government jobs or, are studying in colleges. By providing internet facility, they will be able to access study material easily. After we get approval from the State government, we will soon call for tenders from Internet providers.”