Only 22% Schools, Govt and Private, had Internet Facilities in 2019-20

New Delhi: Only 22.3% schools across the country, government and private sector, had internet facilities in 2019-20, a year when education went totally online following the COVID-19 induced lockdown.

Among government schools, only 12% had internet facilities and less than 30% had functional computer facilities, according to an Education Ministry report on Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE+), cited in a report by The Hindu. The report collates data from over 15 lakh schools across the country.

With school education going completely online during the lockdown, the lack of computer and internet facilities in schools across the country will be a big challenge for both students and teachers once schools start reopening.

Apart from some Union territories, the highest percentage of government schools having availability of internet facilities was in Delhi at 88.18% as opposed to 83.48% in private schools, followed by Kerala at 87.61%,  a bit lower than 89.95% in private schools in the state. However, in Kerala, 90.74 % government aided schools had internet facilities, while in Delhi, 88.18% government aided schools reported having such facilities.

While, installation of computers has been quite good in government schools in Chhattisgarh (83%) and Jharkhand (73%), private schools are way ahead in states such as Gujarat, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, says The Hindu report.

Overall, internet facilities in schools seem to be quite poor in a majority of states, across government and private sector. For instance, in Bengal, only 9.65% government schools and 13% private schools had internet facilities, in Odisha the divide is stark at 2.65% and 35%, respectively, as also in Maharashtra at 10.85% and 81.99% and Madhya Pradesh at 3.81% and 46.47%, respectively. In Uttar Pradesh, only 2.94% government schools and 28.26% private schools had internet, while in Bihar only 2.05% government schools had such facilities as opposed to 44.43% private schools.

 As far as working computers are concerned, the situation is quite pathetic across schools in states such as Assam and Madhya Pradesh, which had only 13% schools where computers were functional, while this figure in Bihar and West Bengal stood at 14%, Tripura at 15% and Uttar Pradesh at 18%. “Less than one in five schools had working computers,” said the report, adding that the situation in government schools was grimmer, with UP reporting less than 5% schools with computer facilities that were working.

Overall, however, the UDISE+ report shows that availability of infrastructure across government, aided and private schools improved in 2019-20 compared with the previous year.

“Some of these are: availability of electricity connection (available in 83.4% schools in 2019-20, which was 76.7% in 2018-19), library with books (available in 69.4% schools in 2019-20, it was 64.3% in 2018-19), computers (available in 38.5% schools in 2019-20, it was available in 34.5% schools in 2018-19), internet (available in 22.3% schools in 2019-20, it was available in 18.7% schools in 2018-19), ramp (available in 67.6% of schools in 2019-20, it was available in 63.7% schools in 2018-19),” says the report.

However, the report has added a disclaimer, saying that it “is based on voluntary uploading of data by the schools having active UDISE+ codes in a reference year, with 30th September as the reference date, using specially designed data collection formats,” and that the “responsibility for the accuracy of the data filled in the DCFs rests with the concerned Nodal Officers....”