100,000 Laptops to be distributed among students

ISLAMABAD: The Higher Education Commission (HEC) has recently signed a contract with a China-based company - Haier, which will be providing laptops for distribution among students under the prime minister’s youth programme (PMYP).

The Information Technology Director of HEC – Gen. Anwar Amjad and Project Manager of HAIER – Mr. Zhang Le signed the agreement at a recent ceremony.
Under the agreement, the HEC will acquire 100,000 laptops, with the the first tranche comprising of 30,000 to 50,000 laptops, which are due to be received by June or July.
The HAIER group had won the contract through a competitive process conducted by HEC. The laptops will be distributed among students at public sector institutes of higher learning across the country.

The HEC is developing the criteria, mechanism, modalities and a roadmap for procurement and distribution of laptops under this programme. HEC Chairman - Dr Mukhtar Ahmed said that a plant will also be installed in the country to assemble the rest of the laptops. 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) will be 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.