The Centre’s ambitious programme of Aakash tablets to students across the country has hit a firewall.
The Union HRD Ministry has put on hold the proposed tender for five million upgraded Aakash-II tablets and set up committees to review the project — a brainchild of HRD Minister MM Pallam Raju’s predecessor Kapil Sibal. In a recent meeting, Raju, sources said, raised questions over the utility of the scheme. He indicated that rather than being “obsessed” with bringing out Aakash, the focus should be on providing equipment, not necessarily the tablet, for educational purpose.
Some of the officials present in the meeting were of the opinion that many tablets available in the market were “cheaper than Aakash”. This apart, some States like Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh have already gone ahead with the free distribution of laptops to students as one of their populist measures. “Besides withdrawing the tender order, the ministry has set up two committees to review the Aakash tablet project. The National Mission on Education through ICT (NMEICT) will be taking the final call,” said a top HRD Ministry official. So far, the HRD Ministry has been able to disburse less than a lakh tablet during the last two years.
Aakash was launched as the world’s cheapest tablet, priced at $35-50. But it has always been under controversies. Though HRD Ministry apparently does not seem to be carrying on the legacy, Sibal still shares his passion in his capacity as IT and Communication Minister for Aakash. Sibal, after unveiling the advanced Aakash-IV with new specifications in April 2013, had expressed that even the Government officials should be given an Aakash tablet.
While the Uttar Pradesh Government is already distributing laptops to the students of institutions falling with their territory phase- wise and aims to equip more than a crore this academic session, Tamil Nadu Government has already been doing this for the last two years with a target distribution of 68 lakh laptops.
“The beneficiaries of the scheme are plus two students studying in Government and Government-aided schools, students in government and government-aided arts and science and engineering colleges and polytechnics within the state’s boundary. Idea of free laptop distributions to students of Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka and Odisha has also been mooted. Aakash will be no match to the much sophisticated laptops,” admitted a HRD Ministry official.