There is powerful technology. And then there is technology that is being put to good use. On the one hand is the announcement of a Samsung Unpacked event, which is coming on April 28, which is teasing “the most powerful Galaxy” device, while on the other is Samsung India’s announcement that it is adding smart classes to 80 new Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya (JNV) schools as part of its global Samsung Smart School initiative, providing digital education to less-privileged students and fulfilling its vision of #PoweringDigitalIndia by empowering the next generation of young India.

The South Korean company is continuously working at the grassroots level. With the new addition, smart classes set up by Samsung will be available at 625 JNV schools and 10 Navodaya Leadership Institutes in 835 classrooms across the country, impacting close to five lakh students.

A majority of the new smart classes are being set up in remote areas, such as Darjeeling, Kupwara in Jammu and Kashmir, Dahod in Gujarat, Sukma in Chhattisgarh and Baksa in Assam. The new JNV schools are spread across 17 states. “A smart class at our school will definitely make education fun. It will not take away traditional teaching but rather add colours to it. Smart class helps students understand concepts better and, not to forget, improve reading and writing skills,” says Ajay Kumar Agarwal, principal of Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya in Kupwara.

Every smart class set up by Samsung comes with an interactive Samsung Flip, Samsung tablets, a printer, a server, power backup and digital learning content.

“Samsung helps young people around the world gain access to better educational and learning opportunities as part of our citizenship vision of ‘Together for Tomorrow’. Enabling people…. This citizenship initiative is closely tied with India’s development agenda, and implemented in close partnership with the government to ensure wider reach and impact among less-privileged students,” said Partha Ghosh, vice-president, corporate citizenship, Samsung India.

The first smart class — as part of the Samsung Smart School initiative — was established in 2013 in association with Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti.