Karnataka government approved smart classes for more than 3,000 government schools

Karnataka: In a major move to bridge the digital divide, the Karnataka state government has officially granted administrative approval for a Rs 91.54 crore (Rs. 9,154 lakh) project to establish smart classrooms in 3,862 government schools.

The initiative, implemented under the Samagra Shikshana Karnataka scheme, is designed to modernize public education and make technological tools accessible to students in rural and backward areas.

Total grant of Rs 91.54 Crore (approximately Rs 9,000 lakh) for total 3,862 primary, high schools, and KGBVs schools. Each smart classroom is being developed at a cost of Rs 2.4 lakh.

Targeted for Upper Primary Schools, government High Schools and Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas (KGBV) (special focus on girl children in educationally backward blocks).

The project consolidates school selections made over the last few academic years to ensure a massive, state-wide rollout in 2026. 1,631 higher primary schools identified in 2022-23, plus additional approvals in subsequent years (95 in 2024-25 and 1,326 in 2025-26). Total 2,810 high schools have been integrated into this digital expansion.

The primary goal of this investment is to move beyond rote learning and provide “result-oriented” outcomes as outlined in the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020:

Visual Learning: Smart boards and projectors will allow teachers to use high-quality animations and video lessons.

Bilingual Support: The digital content is often provided in both Kannada and English, helping students in government schools compete with private institutions.

Teacher Empowerment: Educators are being provided with pre-designed lesson plans and digital assessment tools to track student progress in real-time.

This smart class expansion works alongside the state’s plan to upgrade 800 schools into Karnataka Public Schools (KPS). These “magnet schools” provide education from pre-primary to pre-university (K-12) under one roof, with a budget of roughly Rs 2 to Rs 4 crore per school for infrastructure upgrades.

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