Sunandan Narayan Basu, who had graduated from Bengal Engineering College 64 years ago, has donated Rs 50 lakh to his alma mater and the money could go a long way in bridging the digital divide that is threatening the future of many students in the era of Covid.

The 86-year-old Jodhpur Park resident did not mind the health hazard and drove to the institute — now Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology (IIEST) — in Shibpur, Howrah, on Saturday to hand over the amount.

“With the money we will buy the students who are facing connectivity issues — smartphones and laptops so they can start attending online classes from August 24. The amount will also be spent on developing a digital education hub,” IIEST director Parthasarathi Chakrabarti said.

Basu, who had retired from CESC as chief engineer in 1996, visited the campus on Independence Day to sign an MoU with the institute and attend the inauguration of the facility where the digital education hub, named after his mother Sushama Basu, will come up.

“Be it for the digital education hub or buying devices, the amount will help students at the time of crisis. It’s good that the institute has taken an inclusive approach so that no one feels left out despite the absence or the poor availability of Internet connectivity,” Basu said.

Basu, when he was a student of BE College Telegraph picture

He had promised at the tech school’s global alumni convention in February to donate Rs 1 crore. Saturday’s contribution was the first tranche of the planned donation.

“This is the highest contribution from an individualin recent times,” an IIESTofficial said.

Basu said the culture of generous contribution from IIT Kharagpur alumni to their alma mater inspired him to make the donation.

IIT Bombay was the first to engage the alumni to raise a corpus so that the digital divide could be taken care of. The Bombay institute has raised Rs 1.25 crore to buy its students laptops and broadband facilities.

An IIEST official said that initially they had thought Basu’s contribution would be spent on developing hostels and classrooms so they can accommodate the increasing number of students. “But since on-campus activities have ceased because of the pandemic, there is no point investing the amount in these ventures,” the official said.

A survey on Net connectivity being conducted by IIEST has so far covered half the students. “As many as 15 per cent of the students surveyed are facing connectivity issues,” director Chakrabarti said.

The undergraduate student strength, leaving aside the first year, stands at close to 2,000.

The students coping with connectivity issues have been split into three categories. Those who do not have devices such as smartphones and computers are in the first category. In the second are those who possess the devices but live in remote places with poor or limited networks. The third category comprises those who have devices but cannot afford a high-speed data pack.

The cheque for Rs 50 lakh that Basu gave IIEST Telegraph picture

“We will buy the poorstudents the devices. As long as the institute will continue to hold online classes, the students are not required to pay Rs 17,500 as mess advance, Rs 3,000 as mess entrance fee, Rs 1,000 as seat rent and Rs 800 as electricity and water charges. They can buy a high-speed data pack with the saved amount,” said director Chakrabarti.

The institute is trying to contact the telecom service providers to help out students who are struggling with poor connectivity at home.

The IIEST is a central institute where half the students are from Bengal and the rest from across the country.