Bengaluru: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Wednesday announced that free laptops will be provided to all students (irrespective of caste or gender) who have joined government/aided colleges in the current academic year.
"For all students pursuing B.Com, B.A, B.Sc, engineering, medical and other courses in government colleges, the state government will distribute laptops," he said soon after the inauguration of the renovation and restoration work of the 100-year old University Visvesvaraya College of Engineering (UVCE).
Making the same announcement at the inauguration of Bengaluru Central University (BCU), Higher Education Minister Basavaraj Rayareddy said that the decision would benefit more than 1.5 lakh students in the state. "This is being done as part of the state government's emphasis on higher education. A total of Rs 300 crore will be spent on this initiative," he explained.
Earlier, during the current academic year, a total of 31,742 laptops were distributed among SC/ST students in higher education institutions.
The 160-year old Central College will now be home to a new varsity - Bengaluru Central University (BCU) which was officially inaugurated by the CM on Wednesday. "Providing quality education is essential as it equips an individual with the power to combat all kinds of disparities and this takes us a step closer to that goal," remarked Siddaramaiah.
Earlier during his welcome address, BCU Vice-Chancellor (VC) Dr S. Japhet stressed on the importance of grants being sanctioned by the state government to ensure smooth functioning of the varsity right from its inception. "To achieve our dream of making BCU a dream-come-true varsity and to take it to global standards, we require at least Rs 1,000 crore grants over the years. I request the CM to consider providing half of this as the first part to ensure good infrastructure for the varsity." He also requested the state government to allocate another 40-50 acres of land within its jurisdiction in 13 Assembly constituencies in the city in the long run.
