AHMEDABAD: During the election campaign 2022, Gujarat BJP promised to provide the best digital education. However, the state’s performance in the name of smart classrooms, which was purportedly announced would bring a radical change in education, has been very disappointing.
According to information provided by the Ministry of Education in the Rajya Sabha, a total of 6,150 smart classrooms were approved in Gujarat during the last three years, with only 420 of them being operational. The Centre funded 4,335 smart classrooms in 2021-22, although none of the smart classrooms have been operational yet. That is, only 7% of the job was completed in three years.
The central government approved 2.40 lakhs with a recurrent grant of 0.38 lakhs allotted for one smart classroom during a five-year period. The Centre allotted a Rs 43.5 crore budget for the state’s smart classroom in 2020-21, and a budget of Rs 104 crore in 2021-22. Thus, in total, the central government allocated Rs 147.5 crore for the smart classroom budget in two years. However, in 2022-23, it did not approve a single smart classroom and did not allocate a single penny.
The Centre, however, has approved budgets for other states such as Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana, and Karnataka for the fiscal year 2022-23. Gujarat Congress leaders blamed the state’s weak policies and inability to establish smart classrooms for not receiving a grant.
Manish Doshi, a spokesperson for Gujarat Congress, stated, “The BJP’s double engine administration, which claims crores of rupees in education budget allocation, is robbing poor-common-middle-class children of their right to good education.
BJP’s failed promise
About 6,150 smart classrooms have been sanctioned in the last three years in Gujarat, only 420 have been in use.
According to Ministry of Education, Centre sanctioned 1,815 smart classrooms for Gujarat in 2020-21
BJP was able to fulfil only 7% of their job in three years