The report of students who topped Class 10 and 12 examinations from Tirap district being given old laptops during the 2021-’22 academic toppers award programme is highly embarrassing. This is utter disrespect to the student community of the state. These laptops are given by the education department as an encouragement to the students who perform exceedingly well in the CBSE examinations. By giving them old and used laptops the authorities have shown utter disregard to their hard-earned achievements.
The education department has said it is investigating the allegation and will also blacklist the supplier who was given tender for supplying these laptops. The department needs to keep its word and start action as soon as possible. There should be a proper investigation into the allegation. There are possibilities that in other districts too such kind of supply might have been done by the contractor. Not only should the supplier be blacklisted, it should not be paid for it. To avoid such occurrences again in the future the department should evolve some strict mechanism. Playing with the emotions of students like this should not be tolerated at any cost. This kind of illegal activity can demoralise the student community.