Chennai: Research scholars in the state have urged the govt to include them in the free laptop scheme.
In a representation to the govt, scholars pointed out that laptops were an indispensable tool for their daily work, which includes analysis of statistical data, literature review, thesis writing, and exhaustive journal work.
“During my doctorate days in statistics, I had to study and review at least four research papers a day, besides working on my study. I struggled a lot in the first year due to a malfunctioning laptop. I didn’t have money to buy a new one until my second year. Having a new laptop at disposal will help hundreds of researchers,” said K Revathy, a professor from Tirunelveli.
“The number of research scholars needing laptops would hardly be 10,000,” Tamil Nadu research scholar association general secretary N Shanmugarajan said. Not all PhD scholars get stipends to spend on laptops.
Officials from the special programme implementation dept, which is executing the scheme, were unavailable for comment.
