On Wednesday, December 21, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy launched the distribution of Android tablets to students of Class 8 in government and government-aided schools, on the occasion of his 50th birthday. The move follows an agreement with edtech major Byju’s, whose online courses will be integrated into the Andhra school education system. Under the programme which will continue through the week, 5,18,740 tabs will be distributed to 4,59,564 Class 8 students and 59,176 teachers. The Samsung tabs contain preloaded content on which the state government has spent Rs 778 crore.
While the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) government has hailed the programme as a major step in the education sector, the opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) has alleged a scam worth crores of rupees in the procurement of the Samsung Galaxy tabs by the state government. TDP leaders have also questioned the decision to work with the controversial edtech firm Byju’s, alleging that the choice was made solely with the objective of raking in commissions.
Distributing the tablets to students in Edlapalli of Bapatla district on Wednesday, CM Jagan said that the programme will continue every year. According to a government order from August approving the procurement of 5 lakh tabs at a cost of Rs 750 crore for the academic year 2022-23, the devices would help Class 8 children perform better in their Class 10 CBSE (Central Board of Secondary Education) exams in 2024-25. The state government has introduced CBSE syllabus in Class 8 from the academic year 2022-23, and will extend it to Class 9 and 10 in the next two years.
The YSRCP government has hailed the move, saying it will narrow the digital divide among school-going children. “Such empowerment is the only way to fight the years of discrimination shown towards the poor who opt for government schools,” the Chief Minister’s Office said. The tablets come with preloaded study material including Byju’s online courses. Earlier in June, the state government signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Byju’s to help draft the curriculum for government school students from Class 4 to Class 10. At the time, CM Jagan had said that while Byju’s content is available to private school students at a cost of around Rs 20,000 to 25,000 per annum, it would be made available to government school students for free.
On Wednesday, as the distribution of tabs commenced, Telugu Desam Party (TDP) spokesperson Kommareddy Pattabhi Ram questioned the expenditure on the tabs and alleged that they could have been procured at much cheaper rates. According to Pattabhi Ram’s calculation, the state government has said that it has spent an amount of Rs 688 crore on 5,18,740 tabs, which means that each tab effectively costs Rs 13,262. But Pattabhi Ram pointed out that Samsung Galaxy A7 Lite tabs of the same make are being sold at a discounted price of Rs 11,999 on e-commerce platforms like Amazon.
Pattabhi Ram further claimed that for a bulk order of over 5 lakh tabs, the price per tab could have been negotiated down to Rs 9,000. Yet, the government has spent an excess of Rs 4,262 (the difference between Rs 13262 and Rs 9000), the TDP spokesperson alleged. He then said that overall, the excess cost for over 5 lakh tabs would then amount to Rs 221 crore (5,18,740 times Rs 4262). He alleged that CM Jagan had swindled the excess amount of Rs 221 crore as “a gift to himself on his birthday.”
Questioning the choice to partner with Byju’s, Pattabhi Ram mentioned the allegations of Byju’s exploiting students and parents to sell their courses. He referred to the recent mention by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) of the allegations that Byju’s agents were buying the phone numbers of parents and threatening them that their children’s future would be ruined if they didn’t take their courses. The Commission has even issued summons to Byju's CEO Byju Raveendran to appear in person on December 23 over allegations of malpractice in trying to lure parents into buying courses.
Pattabhi Ram said that the YSRCP government’s specification of the device’s display size being at least 8.7 inches — as opposed to a minimum size of 8 inches in other states and by the Union government — had allowed it to swindle money. He alleged that despite objections raised by several tech companies over the display size requirement and requests to reduce it to 8 inches so that more companies could participate in the tender process, the YSRCP government hadn’t budged, and made sure that only 8.7 inch tabs from Samsung were purchased at an inflated cost.
Pattabhi Ram also mentioned reports of Byju’s creditors asking to repay loans worth USD 1.2 billion, as well as mass layoffs in the company, and questioned why the YSRCP government had chosen to partner with an organisation that appeared to be on the verge of bankruptcy.