While the pandemic brought in a lot of restrictions to things, we usually took for granted, it has also revolutionized some other walks of life. E-learning was always looked at as something as a facet of a utopian future, but with the Coronavirus pandemic, the future turned into the present a lot quicker than expected.
Schools and other educational institutions had to resort to an online medium, thereby allowing academics to be carried out without a hiccup.
The Tamil Nadu government, in an attempt to assist the digitization of education, even more, the Tamil Nadu government has promised to offer 2 GB of internet data available to students per day for free.
About the TN Free data card scheme
Students have to now log in to multiple courses online in order to carry on with their academics. This leads to an increased burden on bandwidth which, in most cases, will not suffice for the academic rigour that students have to match up to.
In order to make matters better, the Tamil Nadu Free Data scheme will offer 2GB of data to students every day for free. Around 10 lakh students are said to benefit from the scheme. Students from schools and colleges as well as those from scholarship-funded private colleges will receive the benefit for a span of four months.
The data package is necessary as colleges remained closed during the lockdowns imposed and students are, even at the moment, largely reliant on online teaching.
Eligibility criteria for the Tamil Nadu Data card scheme
Students who intend to avail of the benefits offered by the Tamil Nadu Data card scheme should be students of any of the following colleges or institutions:
- Government and government-aided arts and science colleges
- Polytechnic colleges
- Engineering colleges
- Scholarship-funded private colleges.
Roughly about 10 lakh students are said to benefit from the implementation of the Free Data scheme. The scheme will offer 2GB data to students for four months of the year.
Colleges and several educational institutions have opened for functioning from 2 December 2020 for the final year post graduate students. Medical colleges also have reopened from the 7th of December 2020. As per state notice, the college for final year undergrad courses will also begin from the 1st of February 2021.
However even if institutions have opened for students, the attendance remains to be voluntary. Online and hybrid classes are continuing in the state of Tamil Nadu. This free internet scheme will surely allow students to have access to online content with much more ease.
Wrapping it up
Students, with free internet, can now access their classes from the safety of their houses. This saves them from getting in touch with the virus and also safeguards their academics.
With the internet offered by the government, students can now multitask and opt for several courses. While the rest of the world adjusts to the digital platform, the education sector gets a chance to soar and the TN government intends to offer the boost through the implementation of this scheme.
