Smartphones distributed to Class XII students in Jalandhar

Tribune News Service
Jalandhar, December 18

To empower young students digitally amidst the Covid-19 pandemic, Deputy Commissioner Ghanshyam Thori on Friday unveiled the second phase of ‘Punjab Smart Connect Scheme’ by distributing smartphones to eleven Class XII students of government schools.

The DC, accompanied by Additional Deputy Commissioner (G) Jasbir Singh, said that pandemic had severely affected routine classes in the schools, which led to an adverse effect on the poor and rural students especially of government schools as they were facing several problems in getting equal opportunities like others in private educational institutions.

The DC said that under this second phase, phones would be given to 6310 students of the Class XII in government schools, and 2116 smartphones were distributed during the first phase of the scheme. He further said that the students would be able to access relevant information about their course besides they can avail citizen services online with the help of smartphones easily.

He also added that youth would also get information about employment opportunities, job fairs, and recruitment drives under the Ghar Ghar Rozgaar programme of the state. Today, a similar phone distribution programme was held at 73 schools of various constituencies of the district. Prominent among present on the occasion included DEO Secondary Harinder Pal Singh, Youth Congress leaders Angad Dutta, Honey Joshi, and others.

1,694 covered in 2nd phase

Under the ‘Captain Smart Connect’ scheme, smartphones are being provided to all the Class XII students studying in the government schools. On Friday, during the second phase of the distribution of smartphones, as many as 1,694 students were distributed among the students in the district.

At the District headquarter, Nawanshahr Deputy Commissioner Sheena Aggarwal, presided over the function and distributed smartphones to a limited number of students. District Education Officer, Secondary DEO (SE), Jagjit Singh, Spokesperson, Education Department, Parmod Bharti, were present on the occasion.

MLA, Balachaur, Darshan Lal Mangupur distributed smartphones at Government Senior Secondary School (GSSS), Thopia and Bhaddi, and Chairman, District Planning Committee, Satvir Singh Palli distributed smartphones at GSSS, Mukandpur.

The functions for distributing smartphones to students were held in 30 schools today.

“With a view to facilitating the students belonging to the underprivileged section of the society to have access to the latest technology to avail the benefits of digital education, the state government has started providing smart phones equipped with pre-loaded applications related to e-content of the syllabus”, MLA Mangupur said.

He also exhorted the students to make the judicious use of the smartphones to tap the educational and employment avenues for shaping their career in a better way.