Glitches galore: Education Dept seeks report on tablets distributed to students

Amid rising complaints of non-functional tablets supplied to students in government schools, the Secondary Education Department has sought a detailed status report of all devices distributed under the ambitious e-Adhigam scheme.

District Education Officers (DEOs) across the state have been directed to upload the updated condition of each tablet on the MIS portal by December 2.

As per the officials, the step has been initiated after a surge in complaints over the past few months regarding malfunctioning tablets, broken screens, battery failures, missing devices and software issues. Besides, teachers were unable to update real-time data as the Avsar App had largely remained non-functional in many districts. With the app not working, most schools were unable to update the tablet status earlier.

A senior department official said once the complete data is received, the department will initiate steps to get non-functional tablets repaired or replaced. “The aim is to ensure that every student has a working device so that digital learning is not compromised,” the official added.

Launched on May 5, 2022, by the then Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar in Rohtak, the e-Adhigam (Advance Digital Haryana Initiative of Government with Adaptive Modules) project was envisioned as a major digital leap for school education.

Five lakh tablets were distributed among students from Classes 10 to 12. The devices came with preloaded e-content — digital textbooks, video lectures and assignments — along with activated SIM cards offering 2GB of free data daily for uninterrupted learning.

However, over the last three to four months, the tablets have remained without data access as the contract with the service provider had expired. While students in WiFi-enabled schools continue to use the devices without any issue, others are dependent on their personal SIM cards or are simply unable to use the tablets at all. Several school heads have written to district offices highlighting that the devices have become unusable in the absence of data services.

With the department preparing to revive and upgrade digital learning initiatives, schools have now been instructed to update the working condition of each device through a newly enabled “Tabs Current Status” module on the OneSchool Suite dashboard. The institutions are required to log in using their institutional credentials and update the status of every tablet via its unique IMEI number. They have to upload the reports with complete details — working, non-working, screen damage, battery condition, lost and not returned by student.

The department has stressed the need for accurate reporting to assess the true scale of damage or loss. “We have circulated the instructions to all school principals. They must update every tablet’s status by December 2,” said Sumit Maan, District Mathematics Specialist, Karnal.

Kaithal District Mathematics Specialist Chatterpal said the teachers had initially faced technical issues on the MIS portal. “We have informed the department. The technical team is working to resolve the glitches,” he said.