KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday announced that her government will provide free tabs to 9.5 lakh students in government schools and madrasas to facilitate online education.
"Students are suffering because of Covid-19 pandemic. We will provide tabs to 9.5 lakh students studying in Class-XII in government schools, government-aided schools, and madrasas. Computers will also be provided to secondary schools to facilitate online education," said Mamata at Nabanna, the state secretariat.
Many students are not being able to attend online classes because they don’t have compatible gadgets and the tabs will help them to pursue their dream of taking admission in graduation courses, she added.
In Bengal, there are 36,000 government and government-aided schools, 14,000 higher secondary schools, and 636 madrasas.
Many students in higher secondary classes are not being able to attend online classes because they do not have smartphones or compatible gadgets. The CM’s announcement is said to be an effective measure to facilitate them.
Mamata also announced a 3% increase in dearness allowance for 10 lakh state government employees from January 1, 2021, which will cost the state exchequer Rs 2,200 crore.
In another programme, the CM said the IT firms in the state have registered 133% growth in the last eight years and IT exports have gone up by 175%.