Lok Sabha Question No. 1746 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-02-13
Subject: Internet Connectivity in Schools
Ministry: Education
Asked by: DNV Senthilkumar. S.

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF SCHOOL EDUCATION AND LITERACY

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1746

ANSWERED ON 13/02/2023

## Internet Connectivity in Schools

## 1746. DR. DNV SENTHILKUMAR S.:

Will the Minister of EDUCATION be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government intends to provide internet connectivity to all schools in the country;
- (b) if so, the details of efforts, achievements in this regard along with the status of the progress so far;
- (c) the challenges faced by the Government in achieving the target;
- (d) the details of schools having internet connection along with schools equipped with computer labs with adequate seating capacity in the State of Tamil Nadu;
- (e) the details of funds allocated to Tamil Nadu for this purpose during each of the last three years, year-wise; and
- (f) whether the Government has received any request from State Government of Tamil Nadu to help them  to  cover  more  and  more  schools  with  internet  connectivity  and  if  so,  the  response  of  the Government thereto?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION (DR. SUBHAS SARKAR)

(a) to (c):  Education is in the Concurrent list of the Constitution and majority of the school are under the administrative control of respective State Government and UT Administration. An advisory has been issued by the Dept. of School Education and Literary, 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 which have computing devices.  States / UTs have been advised that the Internet Charges can be met from the following:

- For ICT Labs / Smart Class rooms sanctioned under Samagra Shiksha, internet charges can be met from the recurring charges being released under Samagra Shiksha.
- For Schools in which ICT / Smart Class room are not sanctioned under Samagra Shiksha and which have computing devices, internet Charges can be met from the Management monitoring Evaluation and Research (MMER) funds being released under Samagra Shiksha or can be met from any other State/UT Govt. funds.

The details of internet facility in schools States/UTs wise is at Annexure -I .

(d) to (f): Under Centrally Sponsored scheme of Samagra Shiksha financial assistance is provided as per  the  fund  sharing  pattern  as  decided  by  the  Ministry  of  Finance.  Under  the  scheme,  the  annual plans are prepared by the States and UTs based on their requirements and priority and this is reflected in  their  respective  Annual  Work  Plan  and  Budget  (AWP&B)  Proposals.  These  plans  are  then appraised and approved/estimated by the Project Approval Board (PAB) in the Department of School Education & Literacy in consultation with the States and UTs as per the programmatic and financial norms of the scheme, and physical and financial progress of the State for the interventions approved earlier.  Further, the funds are released on the basis of submission of Audited Accounts, Utilization Certificate,  physical  and  financial  progress  and  other  documents  as  prescribed  under  the  Financial Management & Procurement (FMP) Manual of Samagra Shiksha.

In the State of Tamil Nadu 9292 Govt. Schools have internet facility and 5815 Govt. Schools are having ICT Labs. ICT Labs and Smart Class rooms sanctioned in the State of Tamil Nadu in the last 3 years both physical and financial are in Annexure - II .

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## ANNEXURE-I

ANNEXURE  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PART  (a)  to  (c)  OF  LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED  QUESTION  NO.  1746  TO  BE  ANSWERED  ON  13.02.2023  ASKED  BY HON'BLE  MEMBER  OF  PARLIAMENT  DR.  DNV  SENTHILKUMAR  S.  REGARDING INTERNET CONNECTIVITY IN SCHOOLS.

| States/UTs                         |   Total Govt. Schools |   Having Internet Facility |
|------------------------------------|-----------------------|----------------------------|
| Andaman &Nicobar Islands           |                   342 |                        133 |
| Andhra Pradesh                     |                 45137 |                      20313 |
| Arunachal Pradesh                  |                  2985 |                        458 |
| Assam                              |                 45490 |                       4680 |
| Bihar                              |                 75558 |                       4421 |
| Chandigarh                         |                   123 |                        123 |
| Chhattisgarh                       |                 48743 |                      16469 |
| Dadra &Nagar Haveli and Daman &Diu |                   388 |                        194 |
| Delhi                              |                  2762 |                       2762 |
| Goa                                |                   814 |                        299 |
| Gujarat                            |                 34699 |                      32681 |
| Haryana                            |                 14562 |                       4345 |
| Himachal Pradesh                   |                 15380 |                       4175 |
| Jammu &Kashmir                     |                 23173 |                       5169 |
| Jharkhand                          |                 35840 |                      12052 |
| Karnataka                          |                 49679 |                       5308 |
| Kerala                             |                  5010 |                       4738 |
| Ladakh                             |                   838 |                        342 |
| Lakshadweep                        |                    38 |                         37 |
| Madhya Pradesh                     |                 92695 |                      16469 |
| Maharashtra                        |                 65639 |                      18540 |
| Manipur                            |                  2889 |                        340 |
| Meghalaya                          |                  7783 |                       1111 |
| Mizoram                            |                  2563 |                        153 |
| Nagaland                           |                  1960 |                        850 |
| Odisha                             |                 49072 |                       3970 |
| Puducherry                         |                   422 |                        422 |
| Punjab                             |                 19259 |                       9013 |
| Rajasthan                          |                 68948 |                      36889 |
| Sikkim                             |                   864 |                        231 |
| Tamilnadu                          |                 37636 |                       9292 |
| Telangana                          |                 30023 |                       2772 |
| Tripura                            |                  4262 |                        682 |
| Uttar Pradesh                      |                137024 |                      12074 |
| Uttarakhand                        |                 16484 |                       2575 |
| West Bengal                        |                 83302 |                      12918 |
| India                              |               1022386 |                     247000 |

Source : UDISE+ 2021-22

## ANNEXURE-II

ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (d) to (f) OF LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1746 TO BE ANSWERED ON 13.02.2023 ASKED BY HON'BLE MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT DR. DNV SENTHILKUMAR S. REGARDING INTERNET CONNECTIVITY IN SCHOOLS.

(Financial in Crore)

| State      | 2019-20 ICT Labs   | 2019-20 ICT Labs   | 2020-21 ICT Labs   | 2020-21 ICT Labs   | 2021-22 ICT Labs   | 2021-22 ICT Labs   |
|------------|--------------------|--------------------|--------------------|--------------------|--------------------|--------------------|
|            | Physical           | Financial          | Physical           | Financial          | Physical           | Financial          |
| Tamil Nadu | -                  | -                  | 441                | 54.29              | 1893               | 149.87             |

(Financial in Crore)

| State      | Smart Class rooms 2019-20   | Smart Class rooms 2019-20   | Smart Class rooms 2020-21   | Smart Class rooms 2020-21   | Smart Class rooms 2021-22   | Smart Class rooms 2021-22   |
|------------|-----------------------------|-----------------------------|-----------------------------|-----------------------------|-----------------------------|-----------------------------|
|            | Physical                    | Financial                   | Physical                    | Financial                   | Physical                    | Financial                   |
| Tamil Nadu | -                           | -                           | -                           | -                           | 865                         | 20.76                       |

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