Lucknow, Dec 22 (IANS): The Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh will be providing tablets, with preloaded study content, to students enrolled in government colleges in seven aspirational districts.

The districts where these tablets will be given include Shravasti, Chandauli, Sonbhadra, Siddhartha Nagar, Balrampur, Fatehpur and Chitrakoot.

These e-tablets will be kept in college library and will be issued to students like books.

Deputy Chief Minister Dinesh Sharma, who also holds the education portfolio, said that the government had decided to procure 160 electronic tablets in 18 government colleges in these districts.

"The decision is in consonance with the New Education Policy (NEP) which lays stress on the use and integration of technology for education. The initiative is also important in the light of ongoing Digital India campaign which aims at making citizens digitally empowered. The conversion not only brings quality in education but technology also helps in academic reforms," he told reporters.

Additional chief secretary (higher education) Monika S. Garg said: "Covid-19 lockdown necessitated online teaching in government colleges but students in aspirational districts who are not equipped with smartphones, internet and other e-learning material lagged behind. Aspirational districts are backward on parameters like education, health and nutrition, agriculture, water resources and basic infrastructure."

She said that these tablets can be used by students as per their convenience. The study material will be loaded in tablets and will be accessible without internet connection.

Each of the 18 government colleges will be given 8-9 tablets during academic session 2020-21. Each tablet will have a 10-inch screen and will have high-resolution quality so that it has no adverse impact on the eyesight of students.