CHANDIGARH – Tipplers will be realising the tablet dream of around 3 lakh students of senior secondary classes across the state as education cess worth Rs 200 crore levied on liquor will be utilised for the purchase of tablets.
Free tablet for students of classes XI and XII was one of the most ambitious pre-poll promises of the SAD-BJP alliance.
The cash-starved state has constituted a committee under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary Rakesh Singh for the purchase of tablets priced at Rs 7,500 each.
The government has decided to provide tablets to 1.5 lakh students of class XII in the first phase by spending Rs 100 to Rs 110 crore. The remaining 1.5 lakh students will be given tablets in the second phase.
Sources in the government said several companies had been asked to give a presentation to the committee. Tablets would be bought with Rs 326 crore education cess lying with the Excise Department since 2006, which the latter will release soon.
Kahan Singh Pannu, Director-General of School Education, said a proposal had been finalised in this regard and the students would soon get tablets.
The state had imposed education cess of Rs 10 per proof litre on liquor and had collected Rs 60 crore every year. However, for the last several years, the funds were not released for education.
