Pamposh Raina for The New York TimesThe home screen of the Aakash-2 tablet.On Sunday, the government will officially introduce Aakash-2, the improved version of India's super-cheap tablet computer, Aakash, aimed at revolutionizing education across colleges and universities in the country.
The new version comes with a higher processor speed, improved battery life, a touch screen that offers better quality resolution and several apps designed for students, among other things.
The tablet will be unveiled by the president of India, Pranab Mukherjee, in New Delhi, on the sidelines of an event celebrating National Education Day. The day marks the 124th anniversary of the birth of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, who was the first education minister of independent India.
Unlike the launch event for the first version of the tablet, known as Aakash, held in October 2011, where students were handed several hundred tablets, this year teachers will get to test and use this new version first.
This is the second time in the last six months that teachers have been introduced to an upgraded version of the tablet, and they are testing a few thousands tablets across India.
Sunday's event will have several thousand teachers virtually participate by video conferencing, in addition to the attendees who will be physically present at Delhi's Vigyan Bhavan, a government convention center with a seating capacity of over 1,000 people.
So far, the first 100,000 tablets, meant to be distributed among students by the end of the year at a subsidized price of 1,132 rupees, or $21, are still being shipped. India Ink was told that the entire batch will be distributed to teachers for various teachers' training programs, which will allow them to remotely partake in workshops.
The government agency that spearheads the project, the National Mission on Education Through Information and Communication Technology, plans to float a new tender soon for the next phase of Aakash, which will manufacture a few million tablets. Those will be eventually distributed among students.
