A year on, these students yet to get free laptops from govt

Coimbatore: Around 90 students, who passed out of Kadhir Mills Higher Secondary school in the city in March 2018, say they were yet to receive free laptops promised by the state government. They say the education department cheated them organizing a laptop distribution function in their school in 2018. During the function, students say, officials posed for pictures pretending to distribute four laptops but took those laptops also back after the photo session.
Around 90 students of the government-aided school approached the district collector on Monday saying that they were yet to receive the laptops promised by the government. The free laptop scheme launched by the late chief minister J Jayalalithaa promised laptops to Class XII students of government and government-aided schools. “Now it has been more than a year since we completed Class XII and we are going to second year, but we are yet to receive our laptops,” Ashwini, a student, said. “The government for its records and media coverage held a function distributing just four laptops, but took it back immediately,” she said.
Another student said whenever she tried to follow-up with her school, she got a reply stating that office of the chief education officer has not given permission to distribute laptops to the alumni.
“But now they are organizing a function to distribute laptops to our immediate juniors who finished Class XII exams in March,” the student said. “We want to know what happened to our laptops,” Vignesh, a student, said. The students met the CEO also on Monday.
Students say many of their batchmates are pursuing computer science, information technology and computer applications degrees in college and struggling to study for exams, do their projects or assignments without laptops. “We are forced to go to browsing centres and spend money to do course work. Or, we have to sit till late hours in our college computer labs, which they often do not allow,” Vignesh said.
The chief education officer told TOI that by an error this school’s order was left out by ELCOT, which manufactures the laptops. “We have informed ELCOT about the school’s laptops getting missed out last academic year. They have accepted it. The laptops for the older students are expected soon,” he said.