Nearly 11500 tablets distributed by the Centre to the municipal school students were dysfunctional. National Congress Party corporator Saeeda Khan claimed the same on Thursday in a meeting of Education Committee.
“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), under the intelligence of Aditya Thackeray, initiated the purchase of tablet computers for students in 2015-16. The BMC purchased 43000 tablets so far for the students of Classes VIII to X. These devices have preloaded syllabus for each class.
With the spread of COVID-19, the Centre imposed a nationwide lockdown since March. As a result, the teaching and learning process shifted from offline to online platforms.
“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,” Khan said.
Sandhya Doshi, Chairperson, Education Committee is yet to comment upon the issue.