After a prolonged delay, the state government on Thursday announced to revive distribution of free laptops to meritorious students on the basis of results of Plus II examination, conducted by the Council of Higher Secondary Education (CHSE).
Higher education minister Shri.Pradeep Panigrahy said the 15000 eligible students who passed the examination in 2015 will get the laptops by October. Similarly, meritorious students of 2014 will get these by August, he said.
The state government has constituted monitoring committees for each of the 30 districts under the district collectors to supervise the process.
Chief minister Shri.Naveen Patnaik launched in scheme in August 2013. Among the merit list of 15203 drawn that year, 15000 were distributed the laptops in different phases. The leftover students would also get the laptops by August, the minister said.
The scheme is part of the Biju Yuva Sashaktikaran Yojana, an initiative under the Odisha Youth Policy. The CHSE prepares list of meritorious students for various streams such as arts, commerce and science taking into consideration the reservations available for scheduled castes and scheduled tribes.
Government sources said the laptops could not be distributed last year due to difference in opinion about the procedure in higher education and information technology departments.
Prasanta Patnaik