The HEC will receive acquire 100,000 laptops, with the the first tranche of 30,000 to 50,000 laptops due to be received by June or July.PHOTO: PID.GOV.PK
The Higher Education Commission (HEC) On Monday signed a contract with a Chinese-based company to procure and distribute laptops among students under the prime minister’s youth programme (PMYP).
HEC Information Technology Director General Anwar Amjad and HAIER Projects Manager Zhang Le signed the agreement at a ceremony held at the HEC Secretariat, said a press release.
Under the agreement, the HEC will receive acquire 100,000 laptops, with the the first tranche of 30,000 to 50,000 laptops due to be received by June or July.
The HAIER group had won the contract through a competitive process conducted by HEC. The scheme aims at distribution of laptops among students at public sector institutes of higher learning across the country.
The HEC is the executing agency responsible for developing criteria, mechanism, modalities and a roadmap for procurement and distribution of laptops under this programme. HEC Chairperson Dr Mukhtar Ahmed said that a plant will also be installed in the country to assemble the rest of the laptops.
The HEC chief said that right from the start the Transparency International (TI) has been involved to ensure fairness in the whole process.
Eligibility criteria
Under the programme, MS, MPhil and PhD scholars will be given preference in distribution of laptops, followed by polytechnic students, students of masters degree programmes with 60 per cent or above marks in the final annual exam, or 70 per cent or above (based on CGPA) cumulative of all previous semesters in semester systems.
Similarly, students of 4-year bachelors programme, who have secured 60 per cent or above marks in the last annual exam or 70 per cent or above (based on CGPA) cumulative of all previous semesters of semester system, will be give given the laptops.
Ineligibility
Students of government degree and postgraduate colleges, students enrolled in a distance learning programmes and those who have received a laptop under any federal or provincial government schemes are ineligible.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 6th, 2014.
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The youth needs peace and job opportunities rather than Haier laptops. This reflects the mental maturity of our leaders.
It is extremely unfortunate that the contract did not include setting up an assembly shop within the national borders.