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Over 11,500 tablet computers, handed over to students from municipal schools to facilitate their learning, have been found to be non-functional, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) corporator Saeeda Khan has alleged.
Khan raised the issue on Thursday during the Education Committee meeting. “At a time when classes are being conducted online, these tablets are very crucial as many municipal school students do not have smartphones. In the past four years, I raised the issue of broken tablet computers for students several times. Of over 44,000 tablets purchased for Classes VIII and X students, over 11,500 are not functioning,” said Khan.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), for the first time, purchased tablet computers for students in 2015-16. The project was the brainchild of then Yuva Sena chief Aaditya Thackeray. Since then, the civic body has purchased about 43,000 tablets for Classes VIII to X students. These devices contain syllabus for respective classes.
Schools were shut and classes moved to online platforms soon after the pandemic began. Khan said, “Since most of the BMC school students do not have smartphones, these tablets would have helped them if they were functional. The civic body is spending money on such projects but not taking enough steps for maintenance.”
Education Committee chairperson Sandhya Doshi did not respond to calls.
