Parliament Question: Digital Education in Rural and Deprived Areas

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF SCHOOL EDUCATION AND LITERACY LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2500 ANSWERED ON 03/08/2026 Digital Education in Rural and Deprived Areas †2500. Shri Rajesh Ranjan: Will the Minister of EDUCATION be pleased to state: (a) whether the Government is aware that lakhs of students in rural areas of many States including Bihar are deprived of digital education due to unavailability of internet connectivity, smartphones and electricity as a result of which the learning gap between urban and rural students is continuously increasing as a result; (b) whether the Government has made any assessment on the availability of smart classrooms, computers and broadband in Government schools in the country, State-wise, if so, the details alongwith the current status thereof; (c) whether schemes like PM e-VIDYA and DIKSHA are practically being implemented effectively or are mere paper announcements, if so, the details thereof; and (d) whether the Government proposes to formulate any concrete time-bound action plan to provide required infrastructure to ensure quality digital education to the students belonging to rural and economically weaker section and to train teachers accordingly, if so, the details thereof? ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION (SHRI JAYANT CHAUDHARY) (a): The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 places a strong emphasis on improving school infrastructure to strengthen learning, enable blended modes of instruction and expand digital access across all regions, including the State of Bihar. To bridge the digital gap and ensure continuous learning, significant progress has been made in expanding basic and digital infrastructure across schools. As per UDISE+ 2025-2026 data, the percentage of schools with functional electricity nationwide is 95% and that in the State of Bihar is 99.5%. Similarly, 67.4% of schools nationwide were connected to the internet, while 91% of schools in Bihar are connected with internet. (b): Details of smart classrooms, computers and internet including broadband in Government schools in the country, State-wise is as annexed as Annexure.(c): 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 PM eVidya initiative includes 200 DTH TV channels and 400 Radio channels to enable all States/UTs to provide supplementary education in various Indian languages for classes 1-12. Digital Infrastructure for Knowledge Sharing (DIKSHA) is the Nation’s One Nation, One Digital platform for providing quality e-content for school education in States/UTs along with QR coded Energised Textbooks (ETBs) for all grades. As a participant in DIKSHA, States/UTs/Autonomous Bodies (ABs) have generated and contributed over 3.67 lakh content in mother tongue/local/regional languages enabling multilingualism. Details of e- content available in regional languages can be accessed at https://diksha.gov.in/data/. Overall, 579.41 crore learning sessions for 2.29 crore users have been completed on DIKSHA by students, teachers and other stakeholders. The stakeholders also have access to more than 836 Virtual Labs on DIKSHA that help them with simulation of real-world laboratory environment. The platform supports both online and offline access, enabling learners to download content and continue learning without internet connectivity. (d): To ensure quality digital education to the students including those belonging to rural and economically weaker section, Ministry of Education implements ICT and Digital initiatives under Samagra Shiksha to enhance the quality of education by integrating modern technology into teaching and learning processes. Under the scheme, funds are provided for setting up ICT Labs and Smart Classrooms in Government and Government Aided Schools having classes VI to XII, according to the requirements of the State submitted in the Annual Work Plan & Budget (AWP&B). 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 and rural areas by BSNL in a phased manner. To improve the overall quality of school education, the Ministry of Education launched a large-scale holistic program, NISHTHA (National Initiative for School Heads' and Teachers' Holistic Advancement), to enhance the professional competencies of teachers and school leaders. It is implemented across States/UTs through face-to-face, online and blended training modes on the DIKSHA platform. ******ANNEXURE ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN REPLY OF PART (B) OF LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2500 RAISED BY SHRI RAJESH RANJAN HON’BLE MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT ANSWERED ON 03.08.2026 REGARDING “DIGITAL EDUCATION IN RURAL AND DEPRIVED AREAS”. Number of Government schools State wise with availability of smart classrooms, computer facility and internet facility as per UDISE+ 2025-26 State/UT Functional Smart Computer Internet Classrooms facility facility India 323763 672778 634251 Andaman & Nicobar Islands 141 297 209 Andhra Pradesh 21878 30542 43736 Arunachal Pradesh 511 932 644 Assam 11788 42067 43775 Bihar 8892 28753 69807 Chandigarh 116 116 116 Chhattisgarh 12267 28855 37748 Daman & Diu and Dadra & 290 353 353 Nagar Haveli Delhi 1940 2687 2688 Goa 113 206 771 Gujarat 25025 33842 33823 Haryana 6638 14158 10857 Himachal Pradesh 8378 12398 8973 Jammu & Kashmir 2783 6203 8550 Jharkhand 5593 29846 20980 Karnataka 10728 21100 18007 Kerala 3440 4795 4346 Ladakh 356 478 395 Lakshadweep 33 34 34 Madhya Pradesh 13308 57660 33859 Maharashtra 47550 48518 44220 Manipur 385 784 813 Meghalaya 166 654 2041 Mizoram 319 2222 1690 Nagaland 627 1775 1011 Odisha 16738 41243 39693 Puducherry 320 419 419 Punjab 17352 19182 17339 Rajasthan 17247 29291 45544Sikkim 565 767 373 Tamil Nadu 31321 37518 37242 Telangana 9857 25429 19452 Tripura 1009 3042 1690 Uttar Pradesh 37450 113784 58512 Uttarakhand 5791 15115 10732 West Bengal 2848 17713 13809