Free Tablets Might Bring Distraction among Students: Goa Chamber Of Commerce and Industry

The Goa Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) has raised its voice expressing concern over the distribution of free tablets to students by the state government without having built a proper infrastructure of IT student.

The GCCI said that free tablets instead of betterment will prove to be a distraction to students, letting them not study with concentration. The body also recommended that first an infrastructure for IT-education must be set up before providing free tablets to students.

Chief Minister of Goa and IT Minister Manohar Parrikar approved a project that also includes free distribution of around 47,000 tablet PCs to the state’s school students.

The pre-budget memorandum highlighted that tablets are not being utilized to its full potential. Rather these amenities are causing distraction instead of acting as an aid to education. The memorandum added that prevailing improper infrastructure for IT education in the schools is adding more concerns to this issue.

In December 2013, on the occasion of Manohar Parrikar's birthday, the first batch of the 47,000 tablets was handed to the students under the new scheme proclaimed by the BJP-led coalition government.

The Info-Tech Corporation of Goa (ITCG) released the tablets, each worth Rs. 9950 , with having educational software and other add-ons pre-loaded on them.

The acquiring of tablets also drew controversy, followed by Congress party filing a complaint with the crime branch, with an alleged charge of fraud of Rs.30 crore, shown as used in buying of the tablets. However, BJP legislator Subhash Phaldesai, the head of the Info Tech Corporation of Goa, casted offs the allegations by stating them as "ridiculous".