Lok Sabha Question No. 1124 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2024-07-29
Subject: Set up of Smart Classrooms in Government Schools
Ministry: EDUCATION
Asked by: Dr. Shrikant Eknath Shinde, Shri Naresh Ganpat Mhaske, Shri Hanuman Beniwal, Shri Praveen Patel, Dr. D. Purandeswari

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

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1124 ANSWERED ON 29/07/2024

## Set up of Smart Classrooms in Government Schools

1124. Dr. Shrikant Eknath Shinde:

Shri Naresh Ganpat Mhaske:

Shri Hanuman Beniwal:

Shri Praveen Patel:

Smt. Daggubati Purandeswari:

Will the Minister of EDUCATION be pleased to state:

- (a)  the  current  status  and  the  progress  of  the  implementation  of  smart  classrooms  in Government schools across the country especially in Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, district-wise;
- (b)  the  criteria  for  selection  of  schools  to  receive  smart  classroom  facilities,  including regional distribution and prioritization;
- (c)    the  budget  allocated  and  utilized  for  the  development  of  smart  classrooms  in  the  last fiscal year, and the sources of funds for these projects;
- (d)  the  impact  assessment  of  smart  classrooms  on  the  quality  of  education,  student engagement, and learning outcomes in Government schools;
- (e)   whether there is any mechanism in place for upgradation of teaching skills of teachers in Rajasthan and if so, the details thereof; and
- (f)   whether the Government is making any new initiative for increasing knowledge level of the students and if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION (SHRI JAYANT CHAUDHARY)

- (a): Smart classrooms have been approved in 1,26,881 schools in the country. The details of  Smart  Classrooms  approved  district  wise  all  States/UTs  including  Andhra  Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, and Rajasthan are available on https://www.education.gov.in/parl\_ques .
- (b) to (d): ICT and Digital Initiatives component of Samagra Shiksha covers Government  and  Aided  Schools  having  classes  VI  to  XII  across  the  country.  Under  this component financial assistance is provided for establishing ICT Lab and Smart Classrooms in schools. The non- recurring/recurring grant under 'ICT and Digital Initiatives' is available to the States and UTs for following two options:
- (i) Option  I: Under  this  option  schools  which  have  not  availed  the  ICT  facility earlier  can  either  opt  for  ICT  or  smart  classrooms  as  per  their  requirement  and need.  In  case  of  more  than  700  enrolment,  an  additional  ICT  lab  can  also  be considered.  States/UTs  have  flexibility  to  procure  hardware  such  as  tablets/ laptops/notebooks/ integrated teaching learning devices and open source operating system as well as Hardware, Software, training and resource support. This would include support for digital boards, smart classrooms, virtual classrooms and DTH channels on pro-rata basis for number of schools approved.
- (ii) Option II : Under this option schools which have already availed the ICT facility earlier can avail smart classrooms/tablets as per the norms of the scheme.

## Financial Provisions:

- ICT Lab: a non-recurring grant of up to Rs. 6.40 lakh per school and recurring grant of upto Rs. 2.40 lakh per school per annum for a period of 5 years.

From 2023-24, the scheme also offers step-wise funding based on school enrolment. (Strength < 100 : Rs. 2.5 Lakhs, Strength between 100 - 250 : Rs. 4.5 Lakhs, Strength between 250 - 700 : Rs. 6.4 Lakhs)

- Smart  Classrooms: The  non-recurring grant for  Smart Class rooms  (2 smart classrooms  per  school)  is  of  Rs.  2.40  lakh  and  the  recurring  grant  is  Rs.  38,000/(including E Content and Digital Resources, Charges for Electricity.

The component wise outlay of expenditure is prepared by State Government as per their requirement of funds for expenditure under the scheme and submitted before the Project Approval Board to consider their proposal for release of funds under the scheme. The Project Approval  Board  then  reviews  the  component  wise  outlay  of  expenditure  submitted  by  the State Government. The Government of India provides the financial support to the States/UTs for  all  interventions  as  per  the  programmatic  and  financial  norms  of  Samagra  Shiksha  and there is no provision for release of funds activity-wise.

The  digital  initiatives  of  Department  of  School  Education  and  Literacy  (DoSEL) especially Smart Classrooms in schools provide basic facility to the students and transform the classroom into tech-driven classroom. The students increase engagement with multimedia content  and  interactive  activities,  while  offering  a  wider  range  of  resources.  This  supports deeper understanding, collaboration, and digital literacy for students, enriching their overall educational experience.

The budget allocated for the development of smart classrooms in the past fiscal year is at Annexure.

(e) The  DoSEL has launched a National  Mission  to  improve  learning  outcomes  at  the elementary  level  through  an  Integrated  Teacher  Training  Programme  called  NISHTHA  National  Initiative  for  School  Heads'  and  Teachers'  Holistic  Advancement  under  the Centrally  Sponsored  Scheme  of  Samagra  Shiksha  in  2019-20.  NISHTHA  is  a  capacity building programme for "Improving Quality of School Education through Integrated Teacher Training".

NISHTHA training  has  been  extended  to  secondary  stage  teachers  in  2021-22  and also to Foundational Literacy and Numeracy (FLN) and Early Childhood Care and Education

(ECCE) for training of master trainers. The details of teachers trained under NISHTHA in Rajasthan is as follows:

| State     |   NISHTHA Elementary (Face-to-Face) |   NISHTHA Elementary |   NISHTHA Secondary |   NISHTHA FLN |   NISHTHA ECCE |
|-----------|-------------------------------------|----------------------|---------------------|---------------|----------------|
| Rajasthan |                              232638 |               173265 |              103908 |        133633 |          42891 |

Source: NCERT

(f) Samagra Shiksha scheme is an integrated scheme for school education covering the entire  gamut  from  pre-school  to  class  XII  as  a  continuum.  The  scheme  not  only  provides support  for  the  implementation  of  the  RTE  Act  but  has  also  been  aligned  with  the recommendations of NEP 2020 to ensure that all children have access to quality education with  an  equitable  and  inclusive  classroom  environment  which  should  take  care  of  their diverse  background,  multilingual  needs,  different  academic  abilities  and  make  them  active participants in the learning process.

The  major  interventions,  across  all  levels  of  school  education,  under  the  Samagra Shiksha scheme are: (i) Early Childhood Care and Education (ii) Foundational Literacy and Numeracy    (iii) Universal Access including Infrastructure Development and Retention; (iv) RTE  Entitlements  including  uniforms,  textbooks  etc.  (v)  Quality  and  Innovation  (vi) Financial support for Teacher Salary (vii) Appointment of language Teachers (viii) Gender and Equity (ix) Inclusive Education (x) Strengthening of Teacher Education Institutions and Training (xi) Vocational Education  (xii) ICT and Digital Initiatives (xiii) Sports and Physical Education (xiv) Monitoring and Programme Management and (xv) National Component.

Education being in the concurrent list with majority of the schools under the domain of the State and UTs, the primary responsibility of providing accessible, affordable, equitable, inclusive and quality education lies with the State/UT Governments.

****

ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (b) to (d) OF LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION  NO.  1124  TO  BE  ANSWERED  ON  29.07.2024  ASKED  BY  DR.  SHRIKANT EKNATH SHINDE, SHRI NARESH GANPAT MHASKE, SHRI HANUMAN BENIWAL, SHRI PRAVEEN  PATEL,  SMT.  DAGGUBATI  PURANDESWARI  REGARDING  'SET  UP  OF SMART CLASSROOMS IN GOVERNMENT SCHOOLS'.

The state wise details of the budget allocated for the development of smart classrooms in the past fiscal year:

|      |                             | Amount in Lakhs   |
|------|-----------------------------|-------------------|
| S.No | State                       | Year 2023-2024    |
| 1.   | ANDAMAN AND NICOBAR ISLANDS | 0                 |
| 2.   | ANDHRA PRADESH              | 7552.8            |
| 3.   | ARUNACHAL PRADESH           | 244.8             |
| 4.   | ASSAM                       | 4082.4            |
| 5.   | BIHAR                       | 4754.4            |
| 6.   | CHANDIGARH                  | 2.4               |
| 7.   | CHHATTISGARH                | 1245.6            |
| 8.   | DADRA AND NAGAR HAVELI      | 24                |
| 9.   | DELHI                       | 1350              |
| 10.  | DND - DNH                   | 19.2              |
| 11.  | GOA                         | 0                 |
| 12.  | GUJARAT                     | 1072.8            |
| 13.  | HARYANA                     | 1046.71           |
| 14.  | HIMACHAL PRADESH            | 0                 |
| 15.  | JAMMU AND KASHMIR           | 892.8             |
| 16.  | JHARKHAND                   | 820.8             |
| 17.  | KARNATAKA                   | 735               |
| 18.  | KERALA                      | 276               |
| 19.  | LADAKH                      | 48                |
| 20.  | LAKSHADWEEP                 | 0                 |
| 21.  | MADHYAPRADESH               | 7807.2            |
| 22.  | MAHARASHTRA                 | 501.6             |
| 23.  | MANIPUR                     | 136.8             |
| 24.  | MEGHALAYA                   | 0                 |
| 25.  | MIZORAM                     | 0                 |
| 26.  | NAGALAND                    | 31.2              |
| 27.  | ODISHA                      | 0                 |
| 28.  | PUDUCHERRY                  | 0                 |
| 29.  | PUNJAB                      | 720               |
| 30.  | RAJASTHAN                   | 8208              |
| 31.  | SIKKIM                      | 0                 |
| 32.  | TAMIL NADU                  | 0                 |
| 33.  | TELANGANA                   | 1672.8            |
| 34.  | TRIPURA                     | 100.8             |
| 35.  | UTTAR PRADESH               | 10149.6           |
| 36.  | UTTARAKHAND                 | 234               |
| 37.  | WEST BENGAL                 | 0                 |

Source: PRABANDH