In U-turn, govt says students can return tablets after exams

Ravinder Saini

Rohtak, February 16

Taking a surprise U-turn, the Directorate of School Education (DSE) has withdrawn its order, asking the students enrolled in class X in government high schools and XII in senior secondary schools across the state to submit their tablets back to their respective schools. The orders were issued on February 9 and the school heads were directed not to issue admit cards to any student without the return of the tabs.

e-Adhigam scheme

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The state government had, in the beginning of the current academic session last year, provided tablets with preloaded content along with personalised and adaptive learning software and 2GB free data to the students enrolled from Classes X to XII in government schools

The orders came when the students have been preparing for the board examinations. The CBSE’s X and XII class exams commenced yesterday, while the exams for classes X and XII will be conducted by the Board of School Education Haryana (BSEH) from February 27. The earlier orders stated that the tablets were the schools’ property and were disbursed from libraries, and the students would have to return the same to the libraries in case of leaving or changing the school.

The development led to resentment among parents who resisted the move and argued that their wards would be in a difficult position when the exams were round the corner.

“The order has been withdrawn in the students’ interest, keeping in view their demand so that they could prepare for the board exams in a good manner. Those students who have already returned the tablets to the schools can also take these back for the preparations. The school heads have now been asked to take back the tablets from the students on the day of their last exam,” Kanwar Pal Gujjar, Minister of School Education told The Tribune over phone.

Gujjar said 5.48 lakh students of X, XI to XII classes were given tablets across the state under the e-adhigam scheme that aims at providing digital learning to all students of Haryana.

“We hail the state government for allowing the students to use the tablets for preparing for the exams. Since a majority of the students enrolled in government schools belong to humble backgrounds, hence they are finding it difficult to get new tablets at this stage for preparing for the exams,” said a parent from Rohtak.

Under its e-Adhigam scheme, the state government had, in the beginning of the current academic session last year, provided tablets with preloaded content along with personalised and adaptive learning software and 2GB free data to the students enrolled from Classes X to XII in government schools across the state.