Parliament Question: Smart Classrooms under Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF SCHOOL EDUCATION & LITERACY LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 47 ANSWERED ON 21/07/2025 Smart Classrooms under Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan 47. Shri C N Annadurai: Shri Selvam G: Will the Minister of EDUCATION be pleased to state: (a) the steps taken by the Government for the upgradation of computer and hi-tech laboratories and establishment of smart classrooms in Government schools under the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan in the country; (b) the number of schools covered in the scheme and the current status of implementation of these initiatives in the country particularly in the State of Tamil Nadu; (c) the details of smart classrooms and upgraded hi-tech labs established in the country including Tamil Nadu during the last three years and the current year, district-wise; (d) whether any specific targets have been set for Tamil Nadu regarding digital infrastructure in schools and if so, the details thereof, including timelines and expected learning outcomes; and (e) the steps taken or proposed to be taken by the Government to ensure capacity-building of teachers, regular maintenance of digital infrastructure and technical support in schools equipped with smart classrooms and hi-tech labs in Tamil Nadu? ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION (SH. JAYANT CHAUDHARY) (a) to (e): ICT and Digital Initiatives component of Samagra Shiksha covers Government and Government Aided Schools having classes VI to XII. Under this component financial assistance is provided for establishing ICT Labs 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/- per school per annum (including E Content and Digital Resources, Charges for Electricity). The State/UT-wise details of ICT Labs and Smart Classrooms sanctioned and functional is at Annexure. As per UDISE+ 2023-24 data, the district-wise details of ICT Labs and Smart Classrooms in all States/UTs including Tamil Nadu from 2021-22 to 2023-24 is available on https://www.education.gov.in/en/parl_ques. Based on the UDISE+ data and funds approved in Project Approval Board’s meetings (PAB) to Stats/UTs for the year 2025-26, there were gaps identified in saturating ICT labs, smart classrooms, and subject-specific labs in Secondary and Senior Secondary Schools in States/UTs. To address this gap, a supplementary PAB was conducted on May 28, 2025 and ₹5989.90 crore was approved for the saturation of these facilities in 32 States/UTs, including Rs.34.18 crore for Tamil Nadu, for 2025-26, as per Samagra Shiksha's programmatic norms. Education is in the Concurrent list of the Constitution and majority of the schools are under the administrative control of respective State Government and UT Administration. As per information received from State Government of Tamil Nadu, under Samagra Shiksha, 13,351 ICT Labs and 865 Smart Classrooms have been established in Government Schools. Further, 6,414 ICT Labs in Government High and Higher Secondary Schools, 6,937 Hi-Tech Labs in Government Middle Schools and 865 Smart Classrooms in 865 Government High and Higher Secondary Schools have been established and are functional. Capacity building training have been provided for all headmasters and teachers for technical support. The Department of School Education and Literacy has launched a national initiative 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 in 2019-20. NISHTHA is a capacity building programme for "Improving Quality of School Education through Integrated Teacher Training". In order to provide continuous learning opportunities to the teachers, NISHTHA online was launched using DIKSHA platform in October 2020. Teachers were oriented on various aspects related to Learning Outcomes, Competency Based Learning and Testing and ICT in teaching-learning. *****ANNEXURE ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (e) OF LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 47 FOR REPLY ON 21ST JULY, 2025 ASKED BY SHRI C N ANNADURAI AND SHRI SELVAM G HON’BLE MP REGARDING SMART CLASSROOMS UNDER SAMAGRA SHIKSHA ABHIYAN The State/UT wise details of ICT Labs and Smart Classrooms, approved and functional: ICT Smart Classroom (From 2005-06 to till date) (2020-21 to till date) States/UTs Name Approval Functional Approval Functional Andaman and Nicobar Islands 147 140 41 0 Andhra Pradesh 9602 9099 5337 4691 Arunachal Pradesh 685 480 318 141 Assam 6986 6903 6481 4036 Bihar 3483 2855 5473 2827 Chandigarh 154 107 186 186 Chhattisgarh 3777 2341 10529 5857 DND - DNH 152 130 192 137 Delhi 1430 1106 1119 1018 Goa 463 460 24 24 Gujarat 6112 5830 7155 7078 Haryana 4452 3521 3556 3226 Himachal Pradesh 3858 2555 2262 2248 Jammu and Kashmir 4011 3036 4361 1352 Jharkhand 5339 4734 1795 982 Karnataka 9175 3293 3940 437 Kerala 2474 2409 730 373 Ladakh 188 171 138 122 Lakshadweep 28 11 0 0 Madhya Pradesh 5338 3738 9531 4018 Maharashtra 10548 10134 5155 2257 Manipur 828 785 544 512 Meghalaya 509 454 25 25 Mizoram 1035 507 240 229 Nagaland 760 649 712 649 Odisha 8412 8315 9542 6973 Puducherry 176 176 145 145 Punjab 5807 3969 3885 3567 Rajasthan 10751 8807 13057 7612 Sikkim 385 372 301 301 Tamil Nadu 16564 13351 7149 865 Telangana 6287 5292 4212 3982 Tripura 1593 1426 977 886 Uttar Pradesh 18020 3987 33616 18460 Uttarakhand 2500 621 2810 1537 West Bengal 4184 2788 502 0 Total 156213 114552 146040 86753 Source: PRABANDH (as on 31.05.2025)