Egypt is set to give out free tablets to some 10 000 university students.
According to Cairo-based newspaper Al-Ahram, the project is a collaboration between the ministries of education and communication. It was announced at Cairo’s ICT conference.
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It is unclear how precisely the government will decide who the tablets go to, but they will be distributed over the next six months according to who needs them most.
It also unclear what the specs for the tablet will be, although the government claims it will be manufactured locally.
Egypt’s Minister of Education Hussein Khaled the project is designed to promote “technological excellence” in Egypt’s education system as well as to give a boost to the country’s tech sector.
Rolling out budget tablets to students in emerging markets is nothing new. In 2011 India announced plans to sell US$45 tablets for US$35 in a bid to get them to students.
The project has, however, largely fallen into disarray with IT partners changing and legal disputes emerging.
