The Odisha state government has started the work to provide free WiFi to students, four years after it promised the same in its 2019 election manifesto.

Students of all the 17 public universities in the state will soon get free WiFi facilities on their campuses to help them access study/reference materials and books which are now available online, reported The New Indian Express. It is aimed at enhancing e-learning on the campuses.

The Higher Education department on Wednesday, November 1, asked registrars of all the universities under the department to furnish a detailed budget estimate including GST and service charges of the executing agency for approval regarding the installation of WiFi facilities on the campuses. Sources in the department said work on it will start soon after the budgets are received from the registrars.

Earlier this year, the former Higher Education Minister Rohit Pujari had announced that free WiFi will be available at all colleges, universities, and technical institutions across Odisha from academic session 2023-24, TNIE added. Every student will also get 1 GB of data for free every day, he had said.

In its manifesto, the BJD government had promised that all technical institutes, colleges, and universities would be provided free WiFi and all students upon joining college would be given 1 GB internet free