Students of Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike PUC and Degree colleges will soon get laptops as Chief Commissioner Tushar Girinath has given the green signal to the proposal for free laptops at a cost of Rs 41.5 crore.

Confirming this, Palike Special Commissioner Ramprasat Manohar told The New Indian Express that soon tenders for the scheme will be called for. "To start with, we will distribute 5,000 laptops. Later, more students will be covered," he said.

The BBMP has 15 Pre-University and four Degree colleges with student strengths of 4,398 and 1,104, respectively. The Palike also has two post-graduate colleges with 71 students. SC/ST, Backward Class and Minority students will be eligible.

"The scheme is not limited to the BBMP. We will give laptops to students from government colleges as well. In all, 50 per cent of the scheme is reserved for women from SC/ST, Backward Class and Minority sections. The basic criteria are that they should be from an economically weaker section and their parents' income should not exceed above Rs 3 lakh per annum," said Manohar.

Education expert Sashikumar said the Palike should have invested more in infrastructure like setting up computer labs and replacing old desktops as well as hiring more teachers. "Giving laptops to only 5,000 may demotivate other students. At many computer centres of the Palike, there are no teachers and some cannot handle language programs like C+, Microsoft and others," he added.