Free laptops for students at start of academic year

As the Electronic Corporation of Tamil Nadu (ELCCOT) has already floated tender to purchase more than 15 lakh laptops, the shipment of the computers is expected by March.

The laptops will be dispatched to schools and colleges by May so that students will be benefited at the beginning of the academic year.

A senior official from ELCOT told DT Next that more than 4.5 lakh students who are waiting for more than a year, were yet to receive their laptops. “Priority will be given to them. Earlier, in 2017-18, due to tender issue, these students were not benefited by the scheme,” he said.

“Once the tenders have been finalised, the government would immediately procure 15 lakh laptops at a cost of more than Rs 2,200 crore”, he said. According to the official, the free laptop scheme for students was a pet project of the late former chief minister J Jayalalithaa. Every year about five lakh students will be benefitted by the scheme.

“Clear instructions were given to us to distribute laptops at the beginning of every academic year for the benefit of the students”, he said, adding that during the summer holidays, authorities will prepare the list of beneficiaries, so the laptops are distributed on time.

“From next academic year, the laptop will be equipped with dual boot facility and latest Windows version and Linux. The latest anti-virus software will also be loaded before distributing it to the students,” the official added.

The official further said the laptops are provided to the students with a one-year warranty, including battery.