Bengaluru: Knowledge and talent are nobody’s personal property, it is inborn. The aim of the government is to see that students go on to become good citizens and with this idea laptops are being distributed to students pursuing higher education, said Chief Minister Siddharamaiah.

He was speaking after distributing free laptops to SC/ST students doing degree and diploma courses belonging to the 2016-17 batch at the Banquet Hall of Vidhana Soudha on Jan.3 and asked the students using laptops try to gain better knowledge and skills.

A child’s talent surfaces depending on the environment in which it grows. If poor children are given good facilities and a high standard of education then it is possible for them to shine too. Hence, the government has been providing all kinds of free facilities to students studying in aided schools, he said.

Higher Education is available freely to just one section of the society. It should be available to others too, is the aim of the government. Hence, in this academic year itself all those pursuing higher education will get laptops, he said.

“In order to facilitate poor students, we had announced distribution of laptops in the Budget,” he said and explained the features in the laptop and advised them to use it to score more marks. A decision has been taken to give laptops to Backward Classes and general category students too. Under this scheme those families earning less than Rs. 2.50 lakh a year will be provided free laptops, he said.

Those students who have passed PUC and joined degree courses and others who are pursuing diploma and engineering courses will get laptops. Nearly 31,742 students belonging to SC, ST category and those belonging to Backward Classes and general category numbering 1,82,000 will be given laptops. These laptops contain education-related software and other information.

Higher Education Minister Basavaraja Rayareddy said that the distribution of laptops should have happened much earlier. However, since the Opposition parties tried to bring in politics, it was delayed. “We have already announced that 1.5 lakh laptops will be distributed to all categories of students,” he said.

The market rate of laptops is Rs.21,000. However, the same quality laptops each costing Rs.14,500 was procured at a total cost of Rs.45.99 crore. This shows that ours is pro-student government, he claimed.