Total recall: Haryana govt asks students to return tablets it gave them during pandemic

The instructions add that the students of Class 10 (government high schools) who shall be migrating to a higher education institute on completion of their class, must return their tablets to their respective schools. The similar instructions are applicable for the students of Class 12 who have completed their school education and shall be taking up the graduation courses.

As per the SOP for collecting the tablets, the District Education Officers have been instructed that in case of Class 10 students (only for the students of Government High Schools), the tablets have to be taken back from the students and updated (reset) on the AVSAR portal by following a set of guidelines. The students will also have to submit the chargers, SIM cards and the other articles given with the tablet to their respective schools before they receive their roll numbers for the final examination.

“No student shall be allocated the roll number without receiving back the tablet,” the instructions add. “If a student does not have the box of tablet, the class teacher shall ensure that the IMEI number of the tablet shall be written on its rear side with a permanent marker,” it further said.

Apart from this, the teachers were also asked to maintain a record, including the name of the student, serial number of the tablet, parents’ names, Aadhaar number of the student and the remarks if the tablet is broken or the charger is broken.

In case of students of Class 10 and 11 (Government Senior Secondary Schools and Government Model Senior Secondary Schools), the tablets will remain with the students but the school must ensure safety of the same.

In case of students of Class 12, the tablets have to be taken back from the students and be updated (reset) on the AVSAR portal.

It was during the pandemic when the Haryana government had started the AVSAR portal to offer proper assistance to the students through the online mode so that students could continue their education without any break.

According to the officials of the education department, the tablets, once taken back, will be re-allotted to new students.

In May 2022, the Haryana government had started distributing free tablets to the students of government schools across the state. Nearly five lakh such tablets were distributed under the e-Adhigam scheme. The SIM cards with 2GB of free data were also distributed along with the tablets. The tablets were equipped with Personalized Adaptive Learning and a Mobile Device Management System that would limit the tablet’s use to only taking online classes.

The ambitious scheme of the state government named ‘e-learning – Advance Digital Haryana Initiative of Government with Adaptive Modules’ took off on May 5, 2022. The tablet distribution function was first held on May 5 at the Tagore Auditorium of Maharishi Dayanand University in Rohtak. Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar was the chief guest in whose presence the tablet distribution began in the state.

Earlier, state Education Minister Kanwar Pal Gurjar had in April last year confirmed that the government will recall all free tablets to be redistributed to other students. A government official had then said that the tablets being distributed were manufactured by Samsung, were worth around Rs 12,000 each with one year warranty.

The Opposition leaders had slammed the move with former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda terming it “a joke” saying such gadgets turn kabaad (trash) after three years. INLD leader Abhay Chautala had asked how will students access the study material saved in the tablets.