GUWAHATI: Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma took to Twitter moments earlier to announce the state government's promise to hand over 8 lakh smartphones to students from classes IX and X as a part of its latest budget.
"In order to ensure that studies of our children are not disrupted due to
class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-poiln3 r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0">, we have decided to distribute smartphones to 8 lakh students of Classes IX and X in Govt schools. This will ensure that they have access to online education,' he wrote on Twitter.All pupils in classes IX and X in the state's government schools will be given smartphones. Ajanta Neog, the Finance Minister of Assam informed about this development during the budget session yesterday.
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Neog said that this scheme will benefit 8 lakh students of the state and check dropouts of students in Assam.
She stated that the decision was taken in light of the Covid-19 scenario, in which schools and educational institutes were closed, negatively impacting pupils.
Despite the fact that online education has been declared mandatory for students, a huge percentage of pupils are unable to pursue it owing to a shortage of smartphones and internet access.