KOLKATA: West Bengal Government on Tuesday decided to transfer Rs 10,000 to the account of each of 9.5 lakh Class XII students studying in government, government-aided, and madrasa schools to procure tab or smartphone for seamless online education.
The decision was taken in the cabinet meeting chaired by CM Mamata Banerjee.
Earlier, the state government had announced to provide tabs to the students considering the hurdles faced by Class XII students to attend online classes necessitated by the Covid-19 pandemic. Most of the students in rural Bengal either have one handset in the family or the gadget is not compatible to attend online classes.
"We floated tenders but no one could ensure to supply the huge volume of tabs. Since the central government has imposed restrictions on the products made in China, we have to depend on other brands. So, we have decided to transfer the money directly to the account of the students within three weeks," said Mamata.
Sources in the state secretariat said the school education department held dialogues with the other tab manufacturers but it proved futile. "All of them said they could supply us a maximum of 15,000 to 20,000 tabs per week. But it would be a time-consuming practice. So the government decided to transfer the money directly to the account of the students," said an official of the school education department.