The Government of Assam launched the Anundoram Borooah Laptop Award Scheme (ARBAS) in the year 2005. This scheme is an award scheme for encouraging competitive spirit amongst the students studying in Assam. The ARBAS scheme aims to enhance healthy competition among the students studying in the 10th class. It also helps the students enrich their perception with information and up-to-date knowledge through IT education.
The Assam Government confers the prestigious Anundoram Borooah Award with a citation in the form of a certificate and laptops for honouring the meritorious students under this scheme. The award under the ARBAS scheme is given in honour of Late Anundoram Borooah, the 4th Indian and the 1st Assamese to join the Indian Civil Service (ICS). He was the first Indian Civilian to be appointed as District Magistrate.
Every year the Secondary Education Board of Assam (SEBA) conducts the High School Leaving Certificate (HSLC) and Assam High Madrassa (AHM) examinations for students who are studying in class 10 in Assam. The award under the ARBAS is presented to the students who perform very well in these examinations.
The students who secure first division marks in the HSLC and AHM examinations conducted by the SEBA are eligible to receive the award under this scheme. The Government of Assam provides laptops as awards to the students who have obtained excellent results in the class 10 examination.
The students eligible for receiving benefits under the ARBAS are as follows:
Under the ARBAS scheme, the eligible students will receive the following benefits:
But for the year 2020, the Assam Government will provide Rs.20,000 to the eligible students instead of a laptop as the COVID-19 pandemic has badly hit the supply chain, thus making it difficult for the government in the procurement of the laptops.
The eligible students can apply for receiving the award under the ARBAS through the following process:
The students need to have a bank account in the same name as the admit card for applying to this scheme. The SEBA will notify the date from which the students can apply for this scheme and release the application for the ARBAS scheme for that respective year. The students need to apply to this scheme before the closing date of the application for the ARBAS scheme to obtain benefits.