ANDREA FERNANDES
MAPUSA: The quality of Lenovo laptops distributed to the students under the Cyberage scheme appears to be not the best, data reveals.
The service centre at Panjim had reportedly received at least 500 laptops for repairs in the last three months alone. And the staff of the service centre reportedly complained that they were unable to cope with the load.
Kenneth D’Souza, a parent from Mapusa, whose daughter is a beneficiary of the scheme, told Herald that most of the Lenovo laptops distributed to the students were faulty and several of them had developed problems. D’Souza said that his daughter faced severe inconvenience due to the faulty instrument; and finally, he had to take the instrument to the service centre at Panjim since it was under warranty.
“My daughter received a laptop under the Cyberage scheme this year on May 16. We have had a lot of hardware and software issues with the instrument. When we took the laptop to the service centre, there were four more students there. The receptionist said she could not say how long it would take to repair the piece since they are receiving over 40 laptops on a given day,” D’Souza said with deep disappointment.
He said the staff at the service centre claimed that, in the last three months alone, they had received over 500 laptops and were unable to cope up with the load. “Every time I have visited the service centre there are many students there,” he said.
On a visit to the Lenovo service centre at Panjim, this reporter noticed that the service room was loaded with laptops and the receptionist complained that the service staff were struggling to cope up with the workload, due to sheer number of laptops coming in for repairs. However, the centre in-charge declined to comment.
A student from St Xavier Higher Secondary School, Mapusa, complained that her laptop started developing problems since the day it was given to her. “I have visited the service centre five times and it does not look that the problems with my instrument will end. Many of my friends also complain of issues with the laptops,” she said.
Director of Education (DOE), Gajanan Bhat could not be contacted since he was on leave.
However, the Deputy Director of Education (Planning), Santosh Amonkar informed that he was not aware of problems related to laptops. “So far, we have not received any complaint in writing regarding hardware or software issues with the laptops distributed. I will find out about the same; but if there is an issue they should write to us,” Amonkar said.
Meanwhile, the owner of a private shop which services and repairs laptops said that most of the laptops distributed to the students this year seem to have problems. “Everyday students come to my shop with their device for repair and inform that it appears that these were a faulty lot of laptops. They either have some software or hardware issue. Few students have got fed up and junked their laptops,” the shop owner Raj said.
The Cyber Age scheme was launched by Manohar Parrikar during his first tenure as chief minister. Earlier, the government used to distribute desktop computers to students; they were later replaced with laptops. Higher secondary students are eligible for free laptops under the scheme. They only have to pay a non-refundable registration fee to the Directorate of Education to get the instruments.
