Parliament Question: Functional Computer Labs and Internet in Government Schools

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF SCHOOL EDUCATION & LITERACY LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO-1561 ANSWERED ON 09.02.2026 Functional Computer Labs and Internet in Government Schools 1561. Shri Karti P Chidambaram: Adv. Adoor Prakash: Shri Anto Antony: Shri K Sudhakaran: Shri Benny Behanan: Will the Minister of EDUCATION be pleased to state: (a) the total number of Government schools currently equipped with functional computer labs and internet connectivity in the country along with the total number of operational Government schools, State/UT-wise; (b) the number of Government schools that have introduced Artificial Intelligence (Al) or digital literacy modules into their curriculum, State/UT-wise; (c) whether the Government has issued any national guidelines or pedagogical standards for integrating Al education at the school level, if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor; (d) the number of Government school teachers trained in Al-related instruction and whether subject- specific capacity building is part of such training, if so, the details thereof, State/UT-wise; (e) whether the Government has conducted any learning outcome assessments to evaluate the effectiveness of Al or digital literacy modules, if so, the details thereof; and (f) the manner in which the Government plans to prevent the deepening of digital divides arising from uneven digital infrastructure and teacher training in the country? ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION (SHRI JAYANT CHAUDHARY) (a): As per UDISE+ (Unified District Information System for Education Plus), State/UT wise number of government schools from class VI and above and percentage of these schools having computer labs and internet facility for the year 2024-25 are available at https://www.education.gov.in/en/parl_ques. (b) to (d): The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 has emphasized the importance of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its role in school curriculum. Para 4.24 of the policy mentions that "concerted curricular and pedagogical initiatives, including the introduction of contemporary subjects such as Artificial Intelligence, Design Thinking, Holistic Health, Organic Living, Environmental Education, Global Citizenship Education (GCED), etc. at relevant stages will be undertaken to develop these various important skills in students at all levels." The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has constituted a Textbook Development Team to develop syllabi and textbooks of Al for Grades 11 and 12. NCERT has also included a project on Animation and Games in the vocational education textbook for Grade 6. This project includes the use of AI tools. The existing NCERT textbooks of Computer Science class XI (Chapter 3, https://ncert.nic.in/textbook.php?kecs1=ps-11) and Informatics Practices class XI (Chapter 2, https://ncert.nic.in/textbook.php?keip1=ps-8) talks about AI, IoT and other emerging technologies.The Government of India has launched the SOAR (Skilling for Al Readiness), a national initiative in alignment with the objectives of NEP 2020, the National Programme on AI (NPAI) Skilling Framework and Viksit Bharat 2047 vision of digital empowerment. SOAR is aimed at embedding Al awareness and foundational competencies among school students (Classes 6-12) and building Al literacy among educators. The SOAR curriculum comprises four progressive National Skills Qualification Framework (NSQF)-aligned modules. For students of classes 6 to 12, three distinct micro-credentials: (i) Al to be Aware, (ii) Al to Acquire, and (iii) Al to Aspire, are offered, each of 15 hours duration, amounting to 45 hours in total. These cover fundamental Al concepts, practical programming, ethical and responsible AI usage, and career opportunities in technology. For educators, a 45-hour module titled Al for Educators provides comprehensive training in Al concepts, pedagogical strategies, and practical classroom application. The Ministry of Education 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). Through NISHTHA, National Resource Groups are trained in Education Technology and Digital Teachers are certified. Furthermore, to prepare students for emerging technologies such as AI, the Ministry of Education has undertaken several initiatives as following: - • Implementation of the NEP 2020 which emphasizes multidisciplinary, technology-integrated learning with a strong focus on coding, Al, data science, design thinking, computational thinking, and experiential learning from the school level onward. • Nation-wide capacity-building programmes for teachers and students through online AI Series, workshops, and training initiatives in collaboration with industry and technical agencies. • Organizing regular capacity building/consultation workshops with stakeholders. These workshops are aimed at identifying innovative, education-specific Al solutions and understanding best practices in responsible Al deployment. The DIKSHA team is also continuously working on incorporating new Al-based features and tools to support teachers in classroom instruction, assessment, and personalized learning. • Teacher sensitization/ orientation sessions help teachers and academic teams understand Al capabilities, limitations, ethical considerations, and safe-use guidelines, enabling them to integrate Al tools responsibly into their pedagogical practices. (e): The Government of India conducts periodic large-scale assessments to measure learning and educational outcomes across the country. In this regard, the PARAKH Rashtriya Sarvekshan 2024 was undertaken by the National Assessment Centre-PARAKH, NCERT under the aegis of the Department of School Education & Literacy. To gain a comprehensive understanding of students' educational backgrounds and to enable a more comprehensive interpretation of assessment findings, information on various contextual variables was also collected as part of the survey exercise. Such contextual variables included access to digital devices and the internet at home and school. National, State and District level reports from PARAKH Rashtriya Sarvekshan 2024, providing insights on achievement of stage-specific competencies and contextual variables affecting performance, are available at https://dashboard.parakh.ncert.gov.in/en, a dedicated dashboard designed to disseminate the findings of the assessment. (f): A comprehensive initiative called PM eVidya was initiated as part of 'Atmanirbhar 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 under the aegis of National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. States/Union Territories (UTs) collaborate with NCERT to utilise, monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of these initiatives as per their requirements in mothertongue/local/regional languages. PM eVidya includes 200 DTH TV Channels allotted to States/UTs/Autonomous Bodies (ABs)/Other Ministries in Government of India and 400 Radio channels to enable them to provide supplementary education as per their requirement 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. States/UTs/ABs have generated and contributed over 3.7 lakh content in mother local/regional languages enabling multilingualism. DIKSHA Offline supports areas with limited or no internet connectivity. The stakeholders have access to more than 450+ Virtual Labs and 100 Virtual skill labs on DIKSHA. As per PRABANDH portal, till date, 1,79,153 ICT Labs and 1,76,738 Smart Classrooms have been sanctioned to State/UT Governments. 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. ******