Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Singh Dhami launches Free Mobile Tablet scheme

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami launched a Free Mobile Tablet scheme for students here on Saturday.

About 2 lakh 65 thousand students of Class 10 and 12 of degree colleges and state schools will get benefit from this scheme, as per government data.

The state government official said that ₹12,000 was given by the DBT for buying mobile tablets to class 10 and 12 students of state government schools.

Chief Minister Shri Pushkar Singh Dhami distributed free tablets to 100 girl students of the Government Girls Inter College of Dehradun's Rajpur Road. On Saturday, this programme was organised in all the 70 Vidhan Sabhas of the state. The Chief Minister also announced that an auditorium would be built at Government Girls Inter College, Rajpur Road.

The DBT has already transferred funds to 1 lakh 59 thousand students of class 10 and 12 of government schools for buying the tablet.

Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said, "During the Corona period, children had to face lots of difficulties in taking online classes. Keeping in mind the problems that the children faced, tablets are being given to them by the government.

He further said that India is a young country with 65 per cent of the country's population below 35 years of age. The country is progressing rapidly under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. India is becoming self-reliant.

He said that all possible efforts are being made by the state government for the qualitative improvement of education in the state. "Virtual classes are being run in 500 schools of the state under digital learning. These services will soon be started in 600 other schools also. 1,418 smart classes are being set up in 709 government schools of the state, this work will be completed by January 15, 2022", he added.

As per the state government, free textbooks will be provided to the students of classes 9 to 12 in all government schools. Along with that, free bags and shoes are also being provided to the students of classes 1 to 8 in government schools.

The government has also decided to increase the amount of state-level scholarship keeping in mind the interest of the students. The amount of the Shivanand Nautiyal State Merit Scholarship has been increased from ₹250 to ₹1,500 per month and the number of beneficiary students has also been increased from 11 to 100. The amount of Sridev Suman scholarship has also been increased from ₹150 to ₹1,000. Under Chief Minister Pratibha Protsahan Yojana, a scholarship of ₹2,500 is being given to the meritorious students of class 12 for the next five years.

The Chief Minister appealed to the people of the state that vigilance is necessary to protect one against the new COVID-19 variant Omicron. He said that everyone must follow the appropriate COVID-19 behaviour. "All preparations have been made by the government to protect against corona, but vigilance is very important to prevent it", said Dhami. (ANI)