No tablets for municipal school students
25 July 2012 6:40 AM IST
The much hyped scheme of providing 'tablets' to all students of IV and V standards studying in municipal corporation schools in Delhi seems to be stuck in a limbo. The students were promised 'tablets' at the beginning of the current session. But two out of three municipal corporations have ruled out the scheme as being 'not feasible' while one corporation has blamed the officers for inaction.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had hyped the scheme in the recently concluded municipal corporation elections but forgot about it just after being voted to power in the three corporations.
The project to provide 'tablets' to corporation schools was passed in the erstwhile Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) in November 2011 and a fund of Rs 45 crore was also sanctioned for it in the budget passed by the house meeting in February 2012. The budget was to be expended in the current financial year 2012-13 for purchasing 'tablets' for students of class IV and V standards studying in corporation schools. Around 1.98 lakh students of 1765 schools run by the municipal corporation were to be given the 'tablets'. The corporation had at first finalised the Aakash tablet priced ar Rs 2250 but it was later found to be 'not fit' for the purpose. So another brand costing Rs 5700 was finalised just before the municipal elections held in April 2012. This was the last effort by the corporation to fulfil its promise.
'The project is not feasible at all. We are now drafting a proposal for computerisation of corporation schools in our area in which computer education would be given to students and high-tech computer based systems would also be used in classrooms,' said Harshdeep Malhotra, Chairman of the Standing Committee of the East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC). The project, which according to him, is in very nascent stage would cost around Rs 14 crore.
Similar views were expressed by the Chairman of the Education Committee of the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) Satish Upadhayay. 'We don't think the proposal of giving tablets to students is fit for SDMC schools. The resolution passed by the erstwhile MCD is not bounding on us. If required, we will come up with a fresh resolution to scrap the plan,' said Upadhayay. He is also mulling a proposal for computerisation of elementary schools in the SDMC area.
However, North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) has passed the buck on officers. 'The officers do not want to implement the scheme. They are waiting for the fund to lapse,' said Mahender Nagpal, Leader of the House in the NDMC. Nagpal is known as architect of the tablet scheme as he was the chairman of the education committee in the erstwhile MCD when the resolution was passed. The present chairman of the education committee of the NDMC, Rekha Gupta, also expressed her concern on the way the bureaucracy is working but claimed helplessness in the matter.
The schools of the corporation completely lack computers and computer education. A scheme to provide computer education and use computers as part of teaching was implemented by the erstwhile MCD from 2005 to 2010 with the help of an NGO. The officers and the three corporations have accepted that hardly any computer is in working condition in any of the corporation schools in Delhi.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had hyped the scheme in the recently concluded municipal corporation elections but forgot about it just after being voted to power in the three corporations.
The project to provide 'tablets' to corporation schools was passed in the erstwhile Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) in November 2011 and a fund of Rs 45 crore was also sanctioned for it in the budget passed by the house meeting in February 2012. The budget was to be expended in the current financial year 2012-13 for purchasing 'tablets' for students of class IV and V standards studying in corporation schools. Around 1.98 lakh students of 1765 schools run by the municipal corporation were to be given the 'tablets'. The corporation had at first finalised the Aakash tablet priced ar Rs 2250 but it was later found to be 'not fit' for the purpose. So another brand costing Rs 5700 was finalised just before the municipal elections held in April 2012. This was the last effort by the corporation to fulfil its promise.
'The project is not feasible at all. We are now drafting a proposal for computerisation of corporation schools in our area in which computer education would be given to students and high-tech computer based systems would also be used in classrooms,' said Harshdeep Malhotra, Chairman of the Standing Committee of the East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC). The project, which according to him, is in very nascent stage would cost around Rs 14 crore.
Similar views were expressed by the Chairman of the Education Committee of the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) Satish Upadhayay. 'We don't think the proposal of giving tablets to students is fit for SDMC schools. The resolution passed by the erstwhile MCD is not bounding on us. If required, we will come up with a fresh resolution to scrap the plan,' said Upadhayay. He is also mulling a proposal for computerisation of elementary schools in the SDMC area.
However, North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) has passed the buck on officers. 'The officers do not want to implement the scheme. They are waiting for the fund to lapse,' said Mahender Nagpal, Leader of the House in the NDMC. Nagpal is known as architect of the tablet scheme as he was the chairman of the education committee in the erstwhile MCD when the resolution was passed. The present chairman of the education committee of the NDMC, Rekha Gupta, also expressed her concern on the way the bureaucracy is working but claimed helplessness in the matter.
The schools of the corporation completely lack computers and computer education. A scheme to provide computer education and use computers as part of teaching was implemented by the erstwhile MCD from 2005 to 2010 with the help of an NGO. The officers and the three corporations have accepted that hardly any computer is in working condition in any of the corporation schools in Delhi.
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