Tablets of no use to Haryana students as Education Department fails to provide SIM cards
Parveen Arora
Karnal, May 7
The Haryana Education Department distributed tablets among students of Class X and XII two days ago, but failed to provide SIM cards for accessing the Internet. Besides, students were not given any training on operating the gadget.
Facility soon: Dept
- No training given to Class X and XII students, most of them can’t operate tablets
- Officials say documents sent to company to issue SIM cards
- Students will get training to access educational software
Rajpal, District Education Officer, said they had so far distributed around 1,800 tablets in six schools of Karnal, Nilokheri, Indri, Gharaunda, Nissing and Assandh blocks. “I have asked the company concerned to provide SIM cards at the earliest so that the device can be made functional. While teachers have been given training, assistance will be provided to the students soon,” he said.
A teacher of Government Senior Secondary School, Nilokheri, said the tablets were distributed on May 5, but were taken back as SIM cards were not yet available. “Without the Internet, the device is of no use to students. We will first make it operational,” he said.
Ram Murti, BEO, Indri block, said they had given 272 tablets to students and six to teachers. “We have sent the documents of the beneficiaries to the company for the issuance of SIM cards,” he said.
Dalbir Singh, BEO, Gharaunda, said it was the responsibility of company to provide SIM cards. “Each student will be able to use 2GB data daily. We will hand over the tablets back to them after making these operational,” he said.
Most students, The Tribune talked to, said they knew the basic operation of the tablet, but needed help for accessing the educational software and apps. A senior official said the department had already received around 23,700 tablets for distribution in 176 schools of the district.
