Govt college students to receive laptops from October, procurement in final leg
Students from Arts, Science, Engineering, Agriculture and Medical colleges in Tamil Nadu will be covered in the scheme.
CHENNAI: As the State's international tender process to procure laptops reaches its final stage, government students can expect to receive their systems from October.
The DMK government had announced the new scheme to distribute free laptops to 20 lakh students in the 2025–26 financial year budget.
Students from Arts, Science, Engineering, Agriculture and Medical colleges in Tamil Nadu will be covered in the scheme.
Accordingly, the Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu (ELCOT) had recently floated an international tender inviting IT majors to supply 20 lakh laptops with the latest specifications.
A senior ELCOT official, seeking anonymity, elaborated on the build of the laptops.
Each system will have a 15-inch screen and be equipped with an Intel i3 or AMD Ryzen 3 processor, 8 GB RAM, and a 256 GB hard disk drive, with pre-installed essential educational tools and software.
Over 10 tech manufacturers participated in the tender, and based on minimum quote and ability to meet all specifications, companies will be selected, the official said.
In the first phase, 10 lakh laptops will be supplied by multiple vendors, and distribution will begin in October. The remainder will follow a phased schedule, as well.
A Higher Education Department official said beneficiaries of the scheme will be selected from 4,650 State-run higher education institutions. All HEI heads have been instructed to identify and shortlist beneficiaries to the authorities concerned, and an online database will be developed to check the beneficiaries' list, he said.
To help ELCOT streamline the laptop delivery schedule and track categories like vendors, supply numbers, stock and beneficiary population, an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software will be developed.
Claiming that the ERP solution will also track the life cycle of each delivered laptop from delivery to the end of its warranty period, the official said, "The system will also keep track of the service centres, which will be established by the laptop computer suppliers across all the districts."
