No SIM cards, 2,300 tablets lie unused in govt schools of Karnal

Parveen Arora

Karnal, August 2

Even after four months of the commencement of the new academic session, nearly 2,300 tablets are lying non-functional in the absence of SIM cards at various government schools in the district. Besides, 1,000 more tablets are required to meet the demand of the students and teachers. The authorities claimed that they had sent their demand to the higher authorities, but to no avail. It has adversely affected the studies of students.

“We have been provided with tablets for students, but these are of no use without SIM cards. Since these cannot be used, we cannot distribute them to the students and teachers,” said a teacher of a government school in Karnal block.

Chatterpal, district mathematics specialist (DMS)-cum-nodal officer e-Adhigam scheme, said nearly 2,300 tablets were lying unused without SIM cards. “We have uploaded the requirement for SIM cards on the portal. After the commencement of the new session, around 1,550 new tabs are required. Of them, we have distributed 550 tablets from the stock to the students, and now we have a requirement of 1,000 more tablets,” he added.

Under the e-Adhigam scheme, the state Education Department provides free tablets, and activated SIM cards with 2GB free data to each student. The Chief Minister, Manohar Lal Khattar, had launched the scheme on May 5, 2022, in Rohtak.

The department had distributed tablets to 28,600 students of classes X, XI, and XII in Karnal district. Of them, 9,308 students appeared for Class XII exams and their tablets were taken back.

As many as 943 students have returned the tablets which are broken, while 144 tablets were either lost or stolen and FIRs had been registered at different police stations.

After the reports of students getting access to social media sites, the department has now updated the software and now students cannot get access to the social media sites, he added. He maintained that earlier, only Hindi, English, and Social Science were taught to the students of Class X and Hindi, and English to the students of classes XI and XII. But the department was teaching all subjects to the students since July. The contents of the subjects are verified before being uploaded, he added.

Several schools are complaining of poor network issues and a student app and a teacher app are not functional. These issues have been brought to the notice of the higher authorities, he said.

e-Adhigam Scheme launched in 2022

• The Chief Minister, Manohar Lal Khattar, had launched the scheme on May 5, 2022, in Rohtak
• Under the e-Adhigam scheme, the state Education Department provides free tablets, and activated SIM cards with 2GB free data to each student
• Nearly 2,300 tablets are lying non-functional at various government schools in the district. Besides, 1,000 more tablets are required to meet the demand