The Indian Ministry of Human Resource Development is planning to provide connectivity to all schools and colleges in the country. The ministry has forwarded the proposal to the Planning Ministry for approval.
The cost for providing ICT facility in all 1,81,520 schools has been worked out to INR 24,160 million. While the cost of connecting all 18,000 colleges is expected to work out to INR 40 million a year, in the first phase of the project, ICT facilities may be limited to 50% of schools, that is, 90,760 schools. Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (BSNL) has agreed to participate in the scheme. BSNL has also offered to give a package for elementary schools that will convert existing dial up connections to broadband connections. In the second phase, the ministry is planning to establish SMART schools across the country. While in the third phase, universalisation of Computer Literacy through the networking of Kendriya Vidyalayas and Navodaya Vidyalayas with neighbouring schools is planned.
