All IX and X Students in Government Schools Will be Given Smart Phones

GUWAHATI:

All pupils in classes IX and X in the state's government schools will be given smart phones.

Ajanta Neog, the Finance Minister of Assam informed about this development during the ongoing budget session today. 

She stated that the decision was made in light of the Covid 19 scenario, in which schools and educational institutes were closed, negatively impacting pupils. Despite the fact that online education has been declared mandatory for students, a huge percentage of pupils are unable to pursue it owing to a shortage of smart phones and internet access. 

"This scheme will benefit 8 lakh students of the state and check dropouts of students in the state," Neog said.

The poor situation of the state's schools and infrastructure was emphasized in a study issued on Thursday by the Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE+), which is directly controlled by the Union Ministry of Education. This report was written for the 2019-20 academic year.

According to the study, only 12.7 percent of Assam's schools have working computer labs. It also said that the state had one of the highest dropout rates of kids in secondary school, at 32.3 percent. There are a total of 65,907 schools in Assam. At least 47,157 are government, 5,024 are government-aided, 6,074 are private unaided, and 652 are others.  According to the study, just 11.44 percent of government schools have computer labs, and 4.32 percent have an internet connection. 

In another news, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that this pro-poor Assam Budget 2021 will greatly strengthen the COVID19-ravaged economy of Assam. Many path-breaking initiatives in the budget will also drive economic revival post-pandemic & help realize Adarniya PM Modi's dream of Atmanirbhar Bharat.

Further, the CM said "The #AssamBudget2021 is an embodiment of our promise to fulfill the aspirations of every Assamese. I commend my colleague Smt @AjantaNeog for her unwavering commitment to uplift every section of our society through this budget and boost the double-engine of development.

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