Patna: To promote digital technology the Union government has decided to get on with digital learning with smart classrooms in all government schools.
Union human resource development minister Prakash Javadekar broached the proposal at the education ministers' conference in Delhi.
A senior education department official who was part of the delegation to Delhi said: "At the conference the Union minister talked about promoting digital technology and in this connection he talked about digital classrooms. All states have consented to smart classrooms."
The minister said the states should ask local municipal bodies, corporates under their social respon-sibility, to provide financial assistance to set up smart classrooms in government schools.
Sources said though the Union government has urged states to set up digital classrooms at government schools it will be a tough task for states such as Bihar to introduce the concept.
According to the district information system for education (DISE) of 2015-16, only 25.22 percent govern-ment schools in Bihar have power connectivity, putting the state in the 34th position. Government agency DISE every year conducts a sur-vey in management of school information on various parameters. The last year's data is yet to be released by the agency.
Shatrughan Prasad Singh, the general secretary of Bihar secondary teachers' association, said: "The Union government's plan to have smart classes in government schools is a tough task (to achieve). First, the state government has to conduct electrification of all government schools followed by computer connectivity. In Bihar very few government schools have electricity connections."
Singh added: "Only few government schools at district headquarters have computer connections. In such a situation it will be tough for the government to have smart classes."
Speaking at the conference on Tuesday, state education minister Krishnandan Prasad Verma highlighted the various initiatives started by his department at the university and school level.
The minister talked about the free WiFi schemes launched by the state and about the private universities that have come up in Bihar.
The minister said in 2015 only 32 colleges were NAAC accredited but that has gone up to 119 out of the total 260 constituent colleges.
