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GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF EDUCATION
DEPARTMENT OF SCHOOL EDUCATION AND LITERACY
RAJYA SABHA
UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4189
ANSWERED ON 01/04/2026
Digital education and ed-tech dependence
4189 Shri G.C. Chandrashekhar:
Will the Minister of Education be pleased to state:
(a) funds allocated and utilised for digital education platforms (DIKSHA, SWAYAM, PM
e-Vidya) from 2021-22 to 2024-25;
(b) access gaps identified among rural, SC/ST and Economically Weaker Section (EWS)
students; and
(c) findings of any review on learning outcomes from digital modes?
ANSWER
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION
(SHRI JAYANT CHAUDHARY)
(a) to (c): Education is part of the Concurrent List of the Constitution and most of the
Government schools are under the administration of the State Government and its bodies. The
Ministry of Education implements ICT and Digital initiatives under Samagra Shiksha to
enhance digital learning in schools across the country. 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 requirements of the State submitted in the Annual Work Plan & Budget (AWP&B). As
per UDISE + 2024-25 Report, 61.27% schools in rural areas have computer facilities across
the country.
A comprehensive initiative called PM eVidya was initiated as part of Atma 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. 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
the 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, 12 DTH channels have been expanded to 200 PM eVidya DTH
TV channels and 400 Radio channels to enable all States/UTs to provide supplementary
education in various Indian languages for classes 1-12. The channels have been allocated to
the States/UTs and Autonomous Bodies under an MoU with NCERT and are operational.Digital Infrastructure for Knowledge Sharing (DIKSHA) is the Nation’s digital infrastructure
for providing quality e-content for school education in States/UTs and QR coded Energised
Textbooks (ETBs) for all grades (One Nation, One Digital platform). To promote crucial
critical thinking skills and to give space for creativity, more than 614 Virtual Labs have been
created and made available on the DIKSHA platform.
Additionally, the Government of India, in the Budget 2025, has announced provision of
broadband connectivity to all Government Secondary schools in rural areas under the
‘BharatNet’ project to enhance digital infrastructure in remote areas by BSNL in a phased
manner.
The funds allocated and utilised for digital education platforms for DIKSHA, PM-eVidya from
2021-22 to 2024-25 are as below:
Name of 2021-22 2022-23 2023-24 2024-25
Digital (Rs in Cr) (Rs in Cr) (Rs in Cr) (Rs in Cr)
platform Allocate Utilised Allocat Utilised Allocat Utilised Allocat Utilised
d ed ed ed
DIKSHA 61.3 49.19 82.98 63.22 55.2 55.2 83.13 83.13
PM 20.31 16.36 384.76 220.03 313.41 302.96 241.25 185.34
eVidya
The Department of Higher Education is implementing the National Mission on Education
through Information and Communication Technology (NMEICT) in alignment with the
vision of NEP 2020.The details of funds released under the NMEICT scheme including
SWAYAM initiative during the period from 2021–22 to 2024–25 are furnished in the table
below:
2021-22 2022-23 2023-24 2024-25
Scheme
(Rs in Cr) (Rs in Cr) (Rs in Cr) (Rs in Cr)
NMEICT 351.84 395.02 395.82 625.59
The Digital initiatives by the Ministry of Education are accessible to students including those
from SC/ST, Economically Weaker Section (EWS) and rural areas.
To assess performance, the PARAKH Rashtriya Sarvekshan 2024 (formerly National
Achievement Survey) was undertaken by the National Assessment Centre-PARAKH,
NCERT under the aegis of the Department of School Education & Literacy, Ministry of
Education to understand the baseline performance in development of competencies among
the students at the end of the Foundational, Preparatory, and Middle stages (Grades 3, 6, and
9 respectively) of schooling. Insights from the Sarvekshan may be accessed at
https://dashboard.parakh.ncert.gov.in/en/dashboard/IND18?tab=foundation.
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