The state government of Punjab announced on Tuesday that it will provide two lakh free smartphones to Class 12 students in government schools across the state. The smartphones are being distributed in order to help students with their online classes amidst the surge in Coronavirus cases all over the country and it looks unlikely that students will come back to school anytime soon. Chief Minister Amarinder Singh approved the distribution of more than two lakh smartphones for Class 12 students< as cases have begun to escalate once again.
In a tweet on his official handle, the Chief Minister laid down several other measures to improve the quality of education in the state. He mentioned that the state government has decided to increase the salary of 42,000 mid-day meal workers by Rs 500 per month and that the online transfer policy for teachers will also be extended to the non-teaching staff members.
The Class 12 board exams in the state scheduled for April 20 were postponed and the new dates haven't been announced yet. Class 10 examinations along with the final exams of Classes 5 and 8 had also been cancelled by the state due to the rising COVID-19 cases.
Free tablet computers had also been promised to three lakh government school students studying in Classes 6 to 8 in Tamil Nadu last year when School Education Minister KA Sengottaiyan had announced it at an event. Higher secondary students in government and government-aided schools are already getting free laptops in the state. Last year in December, the Karnataka government had decided to distribute free laptops to 1.55 lakh students studying in government degree, engineering colleges and polytechnic to promote digital learning.
