Mumbai University students wait for Aakash to fall in their laps

MU students wait for Aakash to fall in their laps

From the next academic year, students of University of Mumbai will get their own touchscreen tablet PC by spending only Rs1,138. The Ministry of Human Resource Development officially launched the world's cheapest tablet on October 5, 2011. The seven-inch, 350 gm-tablet PC will be available to students of all 650 affiliated colleges and teachers for e-learning. In a recent circular sent to colleges, the university has asked them to send their requirements after talking to students. The circular says that tablet PC is available for students of undergraduate and postgraduate courses in science, engineering, commerce, humanities and social sciences. “We will provide tablet PC to everyone who needs it. But we don't know if we can cater to 6.5 lakh students in one go,” said Mohan Kumar, director of Life Long Education at University of Mumbai and in-charge of Aakash. “We will soon discuss the mode of distribution and subsidy with the colleges. After finalising the requisition, the university will send it to the Centre by February-end.” Through Aakash, National Mission On Education Through Information and Communication Technology has planned to give high quality interactive knowledge over the internet/intranet to students across the country. “The price of Aakash is Rs1,138 which is 30% subsidised. If colleges want to reduce the price further, they can do at their end,” said Kumar. The tablet is yet to reach Mumbai but students are excited about using it. “I would definitely go for my own tablet as it is very cheap. It will become a status symbol like BlackBerry,” said Rohit Shenoy, a BMM student of SK Somaiya College. “Carrying a laptop is cumbersome. A tablet would be very helpful for presentations,” said Srishti Kumar, a second-year student of Electronics and Telecommunication, Thakur College of Engineering. Students can access educational e-content provided by 100 varsities through the website, sakshat.ac.in. By the time, the university finalises its requirement with all 650 colleges and sends it to the Centre, a higher version of Aakash will be available.