In the provincial budget 2017 – 18 for Punjab, the government has introduced a number of new schemes for providing better opportunities to the youth.
One of them is the CM Punjab Laptop Scheme, for which government has allocated Rs. 7 billion. Under this scheme around 100,000 laptops will be distributed among students on merit basis in all over Punjab.
Previously the Punjab government reserved Rs. 9 billion for various youth schemes out of which Rs. 4 billion was allocated for the provision of laptops.
The Federal government has also allocated Rs. 20 billion for various skill development and youth related programs, including the Prime Minister laptop scheme.
It merits mentioning here that both laptop schemes have been surrounded by different controversies as well. Since these laptops are given on the basis of merit, requiring a certificate issued by the educational institute, many institutions have started giving out certificates by collecting money from students instead of selecting the top performers.
Just last year it was reported that a number of students received these laptops twice and many of them have been found selling them on e-commerce websites as well.
Furthermore, there have been reports in the past saying that government has purchased these laptops at higher costs and the quality of the laptops was not good as well.
