{"id":338256,"date":"2025-05-26T20:31:19","date_gmt":"2025-05-26T15:01:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/?p=338256"},"modified":"2025-05-28T19:34:23","modified_gmt":"2025-05-28T14:04:23","slug":"digital-gap-in-indian-schools-remains-a-serious-concern","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/digital-gap-in-indian-schools-remains-a-serious-concern\/","title":{"rendered":"Digital gap in Indian schools remains a serious concern"},"content":{"rendered":"

Source<\/strong>: The post Digital gap in Indian schools remains a serious concern has been created, based on the article \u201cDigital divide in schools needs to be bridged<\/strong>\u201d published in \u201cBusinessline<\/strong>\u201d on 26 May 2025. Digital gap in Indian schools remains a serious concern.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Digital<\/p>\n

UPSC Syllabus Topic:<\/strong> GS Paper2- governance-Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector\/Services relating to Education.<\/p>\n

Context<\/strong>: The UDISE+ 2023\u201324 report<\/strong> highlights the widening digital divide in Indian schools<\/strong>. Despite increased investment in education, more than half the schools still lack access to basic digital infrastructure, especially in rural areas<\/strong>. This deepens inequality and hinders hybrid learning.<\/p>\n

Digital Infrastructure Remains Inadequate<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Limited Availability of Devices and Internet: <\/strong>According to the 2023\u201324 UDISE+ report<\/strong>, only 52.7% of schools have functional computers<\/strong>, and 53.9% have internet access<\/strong>. This shows that nearly half of schools still lack basic digital tools.<\/p>\n

Slow Progress in Recent Years: <\/strong>In 2021\u201322<\/strong>, only 44.9% of schools<\/strong> had computers and 33.9% had internet<\/strong>. The 2022\u201323 and 2023\u201324 reports<\/strong> were released late, in December 2024<\/strong>, with only marginal improvement<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Lack of Access in Rural Areas: <\/strong>Despite higher spending, rural schools remain digitally excluded. Many students still cannot access online resources<\/strong>, a problem that existed even during and after the pandemic<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Urban\u2013<\/strong>Rural Divide Widening<\/strong><\/h2>\n
    \n
  1. Digital Disparity Across Regions<\/strong>: <\/strong>As per MoE data, 68.7% of urban schools<\/strong> have digital infrastructure, compared to only 44.9% of rural schools<\/strong> \u2014 a gap of 23.8%<\/strong>.<\/li>\n
  2. Uneven Connectivity<\/strong>: <\/strong>Internet access in rural schools lags behind urban schools by 29%<\/strong>. This gap stems from the unequal availability of resources<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Policy Failures and Delayed Projects<\/strong><\/h2>\n
      \n
    1. Ineffective Outcomes of Government Initiatives: <\/strong>The Digital India School programme<\/strong> has failed in rural areas due to poor connectivity. The BharatNet Project<\/strong>, launched in 2011<\/strong>, aimed to connect 6.3 lakh villages<\/strong> with broadband.<\/li>\n
    2. Repeated Delays and Missed Targets: <\/strong>By October 2024<\/strong>, only 2,14,283 villages<\/strong> were connected. The earlier May 2023 deadline<\/strong> was missed, and the project is now expected to complete in 2025<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Gaps in Tele-density and Electricity Supply<\/strong><\/h2>\n
        \n
      1. Tele-density Shows Stark Contrast: <\/strong>As of March 2024<\/strong>, urban tele-density<\/strong> was 133.72%<\/strong>, while rural tele-density<\/strong> stood at just 59.19%<\/strong>, a huge gap of 74.53 percentage points<\/strong>.<\/li>\n
      2. Electricity Issues Undermine Progress: <\/strong>Though 89.7% of schools<\/strong> report having electricity, frequent outages<\/strong> in rural areas limit usability. Even existing digital tools become redundant without stable power<\/strong>.<\/li>\n
      3. Basic Amenities Must Precede Digitisation: <\/strong>If schools lack electricity and water<\/strong>, they likely lack digital tools too. Fixing these essentials<\/strong> must come first.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        Question for practice:<\/strong><\/p>\n

        Discuss how the UDISE+ 2023\u201324 report highlights the digital divide between urban and rural schools in India.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        Source: The post Digital gap in Indian schools remains a serious concern has been created, based on the article \u201cDigital divide in schools needs to be bridged\u201d published in \u201cBusinessline\u201d on 26 May 2025. Digital gap in Indian schools remains a serious concern. UPSC Syllabus Topic: GS Paper2- governance-Issues relating to development and management of… Continue reading Digital gap in Indian schools remains a serious concern<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10320,"featured_media":338635,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1230],"tags":[12121,300,212],"class_list":["post-338256","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","tag-businessline","tag-governance","tag-gs-paper-2","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Digital-gap-in-Indian-schools-remains-a-serious-concern.png?fit=1280%2C850&ssl=1","views":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338256","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10320"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=338256"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338256\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/338635"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=338256"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=338256"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=338256"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}