AP Government fails to strike deal, laptops dropped for tabs for students

Class 9-12 students of government schools faced disappointment on Monday as the AP Government plans to drop laptops which were promised in the last academic year. Government sources say that the cost to procure laptops is beyond the affordable limit and that most of the apps do not work on them.  

Failing to strike a deal with the suppliers, the government now plans to distribute tabs/tablets to students of class 8. The tabs will be loaded with the digital learning content and the students are expected to carry forward the same to the next academic year.  

In the last academic year, Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy announced that students studying between class 9 and class 12 could opt for a laptop in lieu of ₹15,000 dole under the Ammavodi Scheme. He said that the laptops will be delivered in the 2022 academic year. The scheme was announced to encourage mothers to send their children to school. 

More than 8 lakh students enrolled on the scheme and opted to go for laptops. As government sources revealed that now laptops will be dropped from the scheme, Education Minister Botsa Satyanarayana said that they were still negotiating prices last week.  

The AP Government has failed to deliver its promise to schools and YS Jagan only mentioned the distribution of tabs to class 8 students and did not mention the issues with laptops in a meeting last week when he distributed freebies in the third round of Ammavodi.  

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