CHANDIGARH: A labourer’s daughter Gagandeep from Hoshiarpur told Punjab CM Amarinder Singh on videoconference that though she scored 85% in Class XI, she lost out badly in studies over the past few months in the absence of a smartphone.
With this phone, she said, she would now be able to fully focus on her studies.
Though assembly elections in the state are 18 months away, the Congress government in Punjab has started delivering on its promise to distribute smartphones to students for free as part of its Rs 92 crore ‘Punjab Smart Connect Scheme.’
These phones come pre-loaded with government apps such as e-Sewa App with e-content related to Class 11 and Class 12, as approved by the Department of School Education. They also have an engraving of CM Amarinder and ‘Captain Smart Connect’.
Amarinder personally handed over these phones to six Class XII students on Wednesday. Simultaneous distribution of phones was done at 26 places by various ministers, MLAs and others across the state.
Over 1.74 lakh Class XII students of government schools will be given the phones in the first phase which will be completed by November. Of these, 87,395 are boys and 86, 620 girls, most being in the OBC and SC and ST categories.
Amarinder chose Janmashtami to launch the scheme through videoconferencing at the Secretariat. He said people believe in the promises listed in the election manifesto and it was, thus, his duty to ensure the implementation of each one of them.