In an effort to digitally empower the youth in the state of Uttar Pradesh, the Chief Minister of UP Yogi Adityanath launched the free distribution of tablets and smartphones to one crore students in the state, on Good Governance Day. December 25th of every year, the birth anniversary of former Prime Minister of India Atal Bihari Vajpayee is observed as the Good Governance Day.
On the occasion, CM Yogi commenced the distribution of the smartphones and tablets to one lakh students at Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow, in a mega event. During the event, the Minister also rolled out the ‘Digi Shakti’ portal and the ‘Digi Shakti Adhyayan’ app. The applications are pre-installed on all the phones and tablets distributed. Apart from the study material, information related to the government welfare schemes will be made available to students through the apps.
The CM during his address at the event said that the COVID pandemic opened eyes to the importance of technology, especially in the education sector. “We observed that children lacked the facility to connect for online classes, so the government decided to empower one crore youth by distributing smartphones and tablets to leverage online education,” he said.
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Also, the CM announced that the state government will provide free internet access to the students. He lauded the achievements of the youth and girls of Uttar Pradesh citing examples from sports to startups. While kickstarting the distribution drive of free phones and tablets the CM said that right now tablets have been distributed to 60,000 youth and from next week the distribution will begin at the divisional level.
Union Minister of Education, Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Dharmendra Pradhan also graced the event with his presence. In his address, he said, “Looking at the rise of the digital in the country, the Government of Uttar Pradesh has taken a noteworthy move of providing smartphones and tablets to enable the youth of the state to access online education, especially in these tough times of the COVID pandemic.”
