Delhi govt gives tablet computers to meritorious students

 The Delhi government on Friday started the process of distributing tablet computers to all the Class 11 and 12 students of the Rajkiya Pratibha Vikas Vidyalayas and Schools of Excellence and also to the meritorious students scoring more than 80 per cent in Class 10 boards of its city government schools.

Distributing the tablets to the students at SoE Kalkaji, Delhi Education Minister Manish Sisodia said technology should be in the hands of every student in the 21st century.

The tablets, according to the Delhi government, will be distributed among 15,000 eligible students across its schools.

Sisodia said the tablets will encourage meritorious students in their studies through the effective aid of technology and will help in building research-oriented scholars in them.

He said the government decided to take the step after providing tablets to nearly 60,000 teachers of Delhi government schools.

Addressing the students, teachers and heads of schools, Sisodia said after improving the infrastructure of the schools, the government has also been chasing the thought of starting schools of excellence.

"In our resolve to improve the overall education system of Delhi, we started by strengthening the foundation, that is, getting our school principals and teachers trained at world-class institutions like Cambridge University and the IIMs."

While giving the tablets to the students, the Education Minister said they are giving these tablets to every student who showed glimpses of excellence.

"The tablet is like a portable library that will be connecting the students with their teachers and peers. We are open to ideas from students on how to use this tablet, how to utilise it for better learning and even better performance."

Calling it an initial phase of the tablet distribution, as it will later be rolled out for all the students of Delhi government schools, Sisodia cautioned the students that it is on them how they would like to use the tablet.

"Whether you want the parents to come up and complain to me that the children have become addicted to the tablets, or I would be getting a positive response from the parents praising the government for facilitating the learning of their wards is in your hands now. I hope you will prove me right."

He said technology is a tool and "you can achieve excellence, by using technology through this tablet, or completely waste your time".

"Since this experiment starts with you, the responsibility lies with you to make this so much of success that we extend it to all students of Delhi government schools," he added.IANS