Of the 36 states and union territories (UTs) in India, only three union territories, which include Delhi, Chandigarh, and Puducherry, have 100% internet access in government schools, as per the Unified District Information System for Education (UDISE) 2019-22 data presented in the upper House of Parliament. While Delhi and Puducherry have improved internet connectivity in government schools in the last three years, Chandigarh has maintained a consistent 100% score since 2019.
In a written reply in Rajya Sabha, Union Minister of Education, Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Dharmendra Pradhan, informed that the government funds several initiatives under the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan that can be used to cover internet charges by the states.
Furthermore, the minister shared that starting from the academic year 2023-24, a step-wise funding based on enrollment is provided to government schools to boost digital education. Schools with fewer than 100 students are provided Rs 2.5 lakh, those with an enrollment between 100 and 250 receive Rs 4.5 lakh, and those with enrollment ranging from 250 to 700 are granted Rs 6.4 lakh.
“An advisory has been issued by the Department of School Education and Literacy, Government of India, to all the states and UTs to enter into an MoU/Agreement with BSNL and provide FTTH Internet connection to all the government schools that have computing devices,” Pradhan said.
Meanwhile, the UDISE report highlighted that 66% of the 14,89,115 schools in India lacked internet access in the 2021-22 academic year. The report further revealed that around 8,26,458 of these schools did not possess computer facilities to support digital education.