PANAJI: The Chief Minister, Mr Digambar Kamat said that though the government has scrapped the Cyberage (Edunet) scheme, it can always consider genuine computer requirement of students, from say economically or socially backward classes.

The Chief Minister, Speaking to ‘The Navhind Times’ Monday evening said that the government will also evaluate the outcome of the particular scheme since its inception some eight years ago. "We need to find out the impact of the scheme on the students community in general," he added.

Around 75 per cent houses in Goa, till date have received computers through the Cyberage scheme, since its inception. It may be recalled that while replacing the Cyberage (Edunet) scheme from the new financial year, the government had expressed its intention to strengthen the computer laboratories in all high and higher secondary schools in the state.

"They will be provided with an additional of 10 computers, 2 printers, and UPS, web-camera and internet connectivity for which a provision of Rs 15 crore has been made," the Chief Minister, who also holds the finance portfolio had stated in his recent budget speech.

Meanwhile, the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party had demanded continuation of the scheme stating that the scheme not only helped the students to own and handle their personal computer, but also created a computer-friendly atmosphere in the house of the beneficiary of the scheme, with all the family members of the student getting interested in the gadget.

"The decision of the government to provide 10 computers to the computer laboratories in each school will be a futile exercise as the students would neither find time from their busy schedule, not permission from the superiors to freely handle these computers in the labs," the BJP had maintained.