Lok Sabha Question No. 206 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-07-21
Subject: E-Vidya and Digital Classes
Ministry: EDUCATION
Asked by: Smt. Bharti Pardhi, Shri Amarsing Tisso, Shri Shrirang Appa Chandu Barne, Dr. Bhola Singh

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

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 206

## ANSWERED ON 21/07/2025

## E-Vidya and Digital Classes

†206. Smt. Bharti Pardhi:

Dr. Bhola Singh:

Shri Shrirang Appa Chandu Barne:

Shri Amarsing Tisso:

Will the Minister of EDUCATION be pleased to state:

- (a)  whether  the  PM  e-Vidya  programme  has  been  effectively  implemented  in  rural areas particularly in Bulandshahr district of Uttar Pradesh along with tribal and hilly district of Assam including Karbi Anglong and Dima Hasao;
- (b)  the  details  of  progress/status  of  implementing  of  digital  and  smart  education initiatives like PM eVIDYA and DIKSHA, e-Pathshala and digital classrooms in the country  particularly  in  Madhya  Pradesh,  Maharashtra,  Bulandshahr  district  of  Uttar Pradesh and Assam;
- (c)  the  number  of  Government  schools  in  rural  districts  equipped  with  digital infrastructure such as broadband internet, smart classrooms, tablets or digital boards, district-wise;
- (d)  the  details  of  steps  taken  by  the  Government  to  overcome  the  digital  divide particularly for remote areas students so that equal access can be ensured for digital education resources and online education;
- (e)  whether  the  Government  has  conducted  any  assessment  regarding  accessibility, effectiveness  or  usage  gaps  in  such  digital  learning  initiatives  and  if  so,  the  key findings;
- (f) whether the Government considers that all districts, especially rural and backward ones,  have  sufficient  basic  education  infrastructure  and,  if  not,  the  measures  being taken to address such deficiencies; and
- (g) the status of teacher training  and  content  delivery  through  DIKSHA  and SWAYAM platforms  in  all  the  districts  and  the  number  of  employed  Government school teachers, blockwise, including in Bulandshahr district?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION

## (Shri Jayant Chaudhary)

National Education Policy (NEP), which is a transformational policy emphasises  that certain subjects, skills and capacities should be learned by all students including digital literacy, coding and computational thinking which are being promoted through various digital initiatives.

A comprehensive initiative called PM eVidya was initiated as part of Aatma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan on 17th May, 2020, which unifies all efforts related to digital/online/on-air  education  to  enable  multi-mode  access  to  education  across  the country  including  the  States  of  Madhya  Pradesh,  Maharashtra,  Uttar  Pradesh  and Assam. The PM eVidya initiative is supported through budget allocated under Samagra Shiksha  scheme  and  implemented  with  the  support  of  NCERT.  The  components  of these initiatives are available to all the students across all the States/UTs free of cost. States/UTs collaborate with NCERT to utilise, monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of these  initiatives  as  per  their  requirements.  NCERT  also  provides  regular  guidance/ feedback to States/UTs on quality of these initiatives.

The  key  components  of  PM  eVidya  are  also  aligned  towards  enhancing  digital literacy and include:

-  200  DTH  TV  Channels: These  channels  were  launched  on  9th  March  2024  by Hon'ble Education Minister. As per the Union Budget announcement for Financial Year 2022-23, the 12 DTH Channels have been expanded to 200 PM eVidya DTH TV Channels to enable all States/UTs to provide supplementary education in various Indian languages including for classes 1-12. The channels have been allocated to the States/UTs and Autonomous  Bodies under an  MoU  with  NCERT  and  are operational, details as below:

|   S.No | State          | Channels Allocated                         |
|--------|----------------|--------------------------------------------|
|      1 | Assam          | DD AS PM eVIDYA 58 to DD AS PM eVIDYA 62   |
|      2 | Madhya Pradesh | DD MP PM eVIDYA 108 to DD MP PM eVIDYA 112 |
|      3 | Maharashtra    | DD MHPMeVIDYA 113 to DD MHPMeVIDYA 117     |
|      4 | Uttar Pradesh  | DD UP PM eVIDYA 173 to DD UP PM eVIDYA 177 |

Further on 6th December, 2024, in consonance with the NEP 2020 recommendation for promotion of Indian Sign Language (ISL) and to ensure extensive reach of the learning-teaching material in ISL to a wider audience, Hon'ble Minister of Education launched   a dedicated initiative promoting inclusive education through accessible learning resources for the hearing-impaired community  through a dedicated PM eVidya DTH Channel (Ch. No. 31). Special e-content for visually and hearing  impaired  developed  on  Digitally  Accessible  Information  System  (DAISY) and in sign language on NCERT/NIOS website and YouTube channels.

One hour of content on Digital Literacy is broadcasted by NCERT daily on DTH Channels  and  YouTube  to  enhance  the  digital  literacy  of  students  and  teachers  in rural areas.

-  DIKSHA: Digital  Infrastructure  for  Knowledge  Sharing  (DIKSHA)  the  Nation's digital infrastructure for providing quality e-content for school education in States/UTs and QR coded Energized Textbooks (ETBs) for all grades (One Nation, One Digital platform). Overall, 564.05 crore learning sessions have been completed on  DIKSHA by students, teachers  and  other  stakeholders.  Further,  the  courses  on Computer Sciences on DIKSHA platform for Class XI and Class XII include Digital Literacy components.

| Name of the State   | Registered Users   | Learning Sessions   | Learning Minutes   | e-content   |
|---------------------|--------------------|---------------------|--------------------|-------------|
| Assam               | 3.44 Lakh          | 7.81 Cr             | 74.53 Cr           | 11,478      |
| Madhya Pradesh      | 9.97 Lakh          | 54.05 Cr            | 30.82 Cr           | 5,751       |
| Maharashtra         | 10.12 Lakh         | 775.55 Cr           | 331.88 Cr          | 22,640      |
| Uttar Pradesh       | 25.97 Lakh         | 103.45 Cr           | 1405.27 Cr         | 16,974      |

In keeping with the recommendation of the NEP 2020, 117 Indian Language Primers have  been  released with  a  focus  on  enabling  young  learners  and  adults  to  access education in their mother tongue, including one Primer for Tamil.

To promote crucial critical thinking skill and to give space for creativity, more than 300 Virtual Labs have been created and made available on DIKSHA platform.

-  Teacher  Training: Ministry  of  Education  (MoE)  is  implementing  a  national mission  to  improve  learning  outcomes  at  the  school  education  level  through  an integrated teacher training programme called National Initiative for School Heads' and  Teachers'  Holistic  Advancement  (NISHTHA).  NISHTHA  courses  have  been designed  and  are  run  for  Elementary,  Secondary,  FLN,  ECCE  and  Educational Technology. NISHTHA courses are offered online by the NCERT on the DIKSHA platform using high-quality professionally  made  e-content.  Under  NISHTHA (Elementary,  Secondary,  FLN  and  ECCE)  about  65  lakh  teachers  including  those from rural areas have been trained. NISHTHA is perhaps, one of the world's largest teacher training programs at India's scale. NCERT also offers 28 courses covering 11 subjects through the SWAYAM portal for classes XI-XII. Fourteen cycles have been completed and around 4,90,952 learners have been benefitted. District wise count of teachers in Government schools including Bulandshahr district can be accessed from UDISE+ portal (https://udiseplus.gov.in/#/en/page/publications).

Education is part of Concurrent List of the Constitution and  most of the Government schools are under the administration of the State Government and its bodies. Ministry of Education  implements  ICT  and  Digital  initiatives  under  Samagra  Shiksha  to  enhance digital learning in Government schools across the country, including rural areas in Tamil Nadu. The initiatives aim to enhance the quality of education by integrating technology into teaching and learning processes. Under the initiatives, funds are provided for setting up ICT Labs and Smart Classrooms according to the requirement of State submitted in the Annual Work Plan & Budget (AWP&B). The ICT scheme offers two options:

1. Option  I: Schools  without  prior  ICT  facilities  can  choose  ICT  labs  or  smart classrooms.  Schools  with  over  700  students  may  get  an  additional  ICT  lab. States/UTs can procure hardware, software, tablets, laptops, and training resources, supporting digital boards, virtual classrooms, and DTH channels.

2. Option II: Schools  with  existing  ICT  facilities  can  access  smart  classrooms  or tablets under the scheme norms.

The Ministry of Education, Government of India, publishes the UDISE report annually, which  provides  data  on  access  to  digital  learning  devices,  internet  connectivity,  and related infrastructure. As per UDISE+ 2023-24 report, out of 3,51,734 schools in rural areas,  75,375  schools  have  ICT  Labs,  1,00,599 schools  have  tablets,  34,848  schools have Digital Boards, 1,29,655 schools have Smart Classrooms with Digital Boards/Smart Boards/Virtual Classrooms/Smart TVs  and 1,83,630 Schools have internet facilities. The detailed report can be accessed from UDISE+ portal (https://udiseplus.gov.in/#/en/page/publications).

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