Minister shares list of states with most internet-starved schools

Twenty states and union territories have internet connection at less than 10 per cent of their government schools, Lok Sabha was informed on Monday.

The information was shared by Union Minister of State for Education Annpurna Devi in response to a written question in Lok Sabha.

The minister quoted the Unified District Information System for Education (UDISE), 2019-20, data in her response.

According to the minister, the states with less than 10 per cent government schools with internet coverage are -- Andhra Pradesh (9.10 pc), Arunachal Pradesh (3.44 pc), Assam (4.32 pc), Bihar (2.05 pc), Chhattisgarh (3.35 pc), Goa (8.46 pc), Jammu and Kashmir (5.18 pc), Karnataka (7.75 pc), Ladakh (1.86 pc), Madhya Pradesh (3.81 pc), Manipur (2.36 pc), Meghalaya (1.27 pc), Mizoram (2.35 pc), Nagaland (3.03 pc), Odisha (2.72 pc), Telangana (8.03 pc), Tripura (1.61 pc), Uttar Pradesh (2.94 pc), Uttarakhand (6.40 pc), and West Bengal (9.65 pc).

The list was topped by Chandigarh, which had 100 per cent of its government schools connected with internet facilities, followed by Lakshadweep (93.33 pc), Delhi (88.18 pc), and Kerala (87.16 pc).

"To improve the internet connectivity in rural areas, the CSC e-Governance Services India Ltd (CSC-SPV) of MEITY has been assigned the task of providing Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH) connectivity to the government institutions, including schools," Devi said.