Haryana government's e-Adhigam scheme proving to be boon for poor students: Chief Minister

CHANDIGARH: Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Saturday said the e-Adhigam scheme launched a year ago with the objective of promoting digital education and providing online education to children belonging to poor and needy families is proving to be a boon for them.

Under the scheme, tablet computers have so far been provided to 5.5 lakh students. Along with this, free 2GB internet data is also being given per day, Khattar said. The chief minister was interacting with the students who have received the tablet computers under the scheme through audio-conferencing, according to an official statement issued here.

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Khattar also said the e-Adhigam initiative of the BJP-JJP government in Haryana will prove to be a milestone towards realising the Digital India vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The state government had earlier launched the e-Adhigam scheme under which tablet computers were distributed to government school students of Classes 10 and 12.

According to the statement, some students said during their interaction with the chief minister that the tablet computers have helped them immensely in preparing for competitive exams. Khattar also encouraged the students to dream big and achieve their goals. He said information technology has been used in the field of education for long, but this digital platform had become the need of every student during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader pointed out that schools and colleges were closed due to the pandemic but the government used multiple digital platforms to impart education to the students.

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"The pandemic made us realise the need to ensure the availability of digital devices to the students so that no one suffers any academic loss. That was when we decided to provide tablet computers to the students and on May 5, 2022, tablets were distributed among students while inaugurating the e-Adhigam scheme from Rohtak," he said.

Khattar said the government has also provided tablet computers to 37,370 teachers. For this, necessary action has been initiated by schools. The government aims to have at least 60 per cent students and teachers using tablet computers by the end of May, he added.

The chief minister said his government has set a target to fully implement the National Education Policy, 2020 by 2025. "One of the objectives of this policy is to develop the skills of the students. Now, students who are getting digital access at the school level will be seen trying their hand in the IT sector or 21st-century skills in the coming years like artificial intelligence, augmented reality, virtual reality, data mining, block chain management, coding, gaming etc.," he said.