80K govt teachers to get laptops to boost work

CHENNAI: In a bid to make school related work much easier and faster, more than 80,000 teachers in government primary and middle schools across Tamil Nadu will be receiving high-tech laptops.

During the first phase, seven districts including Chennai, Chengalpattu, Tiruvallur, Kancheepuram, Ranipet, Vellore and Tiruvannamalai will be covered. The distribution has started in Chennai and Tiruvallur districts.

A senior official from the School Education Department told DT Next that a total of 14,796 teachers from these seven districts will be receiving laptops within one month. “The distribution of laptops to the teachers has already started in Chennai and Thiruvallur district of the State,” he said.

Stating that during the second phase as many as 18,625 laptops will be distributed to the teachers in 17 districts, the official said the laptops will be sent to the district headquarters where the chief education officer will be distributing to the listed beneficiaries.

“In the third phase, a total of 11,711 computer laptops will be distributed,” he said adding, “the list of the teachers will be taken during the fourth phase and accordingly the laptops will be distributed”.

Pointing out that the government earlier has decided to provide computer tablets to the teachers, he said, “after getting feedback suggestions from various quarters, it was found that laptops would be much more convenient than the tablets”.

The official said providing laptops to the teachers are aimed at helping with online attendance, posting portions of coverage details and accessing additional online learning notes. “Similarly, important video lectures will also be loaded on the laptops to further aid the teachers”.

Claiming that the teachers were facing several issues during the usage of Education Management Information System (EMIS), a common online platform connecting schools, teachers, students and the School Education Department, he said the laptop will be very useful for them to enter data in the EMIS without any hurdle.

The laptops, which will be equipped with 4 GB RAM, will also support all the types of internet service provider starting from 2G to 5G, and will also have high quality voice and video calling features”.