Students in Tamil Nadu to get free laptops by December
More than 4,600 state-run colleges will benefit from the free scheme
Representative image
CHENNAI: As the tender process to procure 20 lakh laptop computers is almost in the final stage, students' registration for providing free laptops will begin shortly, and the distribution is expected in December this year.
The DMK government had announced the new scheme to distribute free laptops to 20 lakh students in the 2025–26 financial year budget at a cost of about Rs 2,000 crore.
Accordingly, students from Arts, Science, Engineering, Agriculture and Medical colleges in Tamil Nadu will be covered in the scheme.
A senior official from the Higher Education Department said that the Electronic Corporation of Tamil Nadu (Elcot) has almost completed the tender process to procure initially 10 lakh laptops from the international market.
"During the final bid process, three major multinational companies were in the fray," he said, adding, "final negotiations were on about the price of each laptop".
He said an expert committee comprising Anna University and IIT faculty members, besides officials from the National Informatics Centre, has been constituted to execute the free laptop scheme successfully.
"They will also oversee the companies, which had participated in the tender," he added,
Stating that each laptop computer 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, the official said "the computers will be purchased in a phased manner".
He also said that he students will also get one year free access to the latest Microsoft including Word and Excel.
Pointing out that more than 4,600 state-run colleges will benefit from the free laptop scheme, he claimed that all the principals of the institutions were instructed to identify the beneficiaries and submit the report within two months.
"All the students who have registered for the scheme will be scrutinised," he added.
The official also said that apart from the expert committee, a software company will also develop Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution to the laptop scheme to track the delivery schedule, vendors, supply numbers, stock.
"Expression of Interest (EOI) has already been floated for the ERP solution for the project," he added.
