Over 3K Haryana govt school students yet to get SIM cards for tablets

Parveen Arora

Karnal, January 3

Nearly three months are left before the completion of the current academic session, but 3,495 students of government-run schools are yet to receive SIM cards for Internet facilities to operate tablets. Most of them are students of Class XI, who were given tablets in September under the ‘e-Adhigam’ scheme launched by Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on May 5 from Rohtak.

Demand raised

It was the duty of the company to provide SIM cards for access to the Internet. We have sent the demand for SIM cards through schools and block education officers (BEOs). We are hopeful that the SIMs will be provided soon so that students could benefit from the tablets. Rajpal, District Education Officer

e-ADHIGAM SCHEME

Most of them are students of Class XI, who were given tablets in September under the ‘e-Adhigam’ scheme launched by Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on May 5 from Rohtak.

The project was initiated to bridge learning gaps among students. Delay in dispatching the SIM cards from the service provider’s side has affected the purpose for which these tabs were distributed by the Education Department as these are of no use to the students. As per officials, the unused tablets have been kept in almirahs.

At the time of launching, it was claimed that the inclusion of tablets would help the students in education as the whole syllabus, assignments, and tests were available on Avsar App and other apps. Among these students, some belong to Classes X and XII, who were given tablets after June and are also waiting for the SIM cards.

Among the total students, 180 are from Nissing block, 206 from Gharaunda block, 247 from Nilokheri block, 2,308 from Karnal block, 236 of Indri block, and 318 of Assandh block. Besides, there are 897 teachers and 1,859 junior basic teachers (JBT), assistant block resource coordinators (ABRC), and block resource persons (BRP), who were given tablets in November, but the SIM cards were yet to be issued to them.

“We were given tablets and training was also imparted to us, but the SIM cards are yet to be issued to us,” said a teacher of Karnal block.

A student of Class XI of Karnal block said they were given tablets in September, but so far they had not used these for study purposes and were lying in almirahs.

Students of Classes X and XII, who were given tablets in May and June, complained that they were getting study material for limited subjects. They demanded access to other subjects, particularly optional subjects. “We can access only three subjects: Hindi, English, and social studies. We cannot access other subjects. We request the government to provide material of all subjects,” said an Class X student. Similarly, a student of Class XII said the diagnostic tests of two subjects Hindi and English were available in tablets, while for others they had to depend on books.

Chatterpal, District Mathematic Specialist (DMS)-cum-Nodal Officer, e-Adhigam scheme, said they took feedback from teachers and students on the functioning of tablets every month. The issue of non-issuance of SIM cards to students had been brought to the notice of the higher authorities, which would be resolved.