The State government’s free laptops for Plus Two students should be distributed during the academic year before the students pass out of the school, a few officials from the School Education Department here have said.
According to the officials, a total of 21,591 students who completed Plus Two in 132 government and government-aided schools in the 2013-2014 academic year received the State government’s free laptops in July this year. A total of 22,080 beneficiaries were identified.
489 returnedHowever, 489 laptops were not distributed across the district and will be returned.
“Because the laptops are distributed after the completion of the academic year, it is not possible to contact a few students. Safeguarding the laptops is also a big task for the schools,” said an official.
As many as eight laptops were stolen from a government-aided school in Vasanth Nagar on July 16 this year.
Unlike the laptops, free bi-cycles were distributed to the students during the academic year itself. “Laptops should also be distributed in a similar manner. Not all schools have watchmen, because of which laptops are not safe at schools,” an official said.
Since laptops were expensive, it took several months for the State government to allocate funds and the other processes were delayed.
However, if the funds were allocated expeditiously it would eliminate problems, he added.
“Around 80 students who completed Plus Two in different schools could not be contacted this year. Besides, a few schools had also included self-financing students in the list of beneficiaries. The laptops meant for them will be returned,” another official said.
Chief Educational Officer J. Angelo Irudhayasamy said the headmasters had been instructed to take precautionary measures to safeguard laptops.
“Whenever there is theft in a school, the management will have to compensate the losses to the district administration,” he added.
