Delhi Cabinet approves budget for setting up over 18,000 smart classrooms

NEW DELHI: Delhi Education Minister Ashish Sood on Tuesday announced that the Cabinet has approved the budget for setting up 18,996 smart blackboards in government school classrooms. Addressing a press conference, Sood said 2,466 smart blackboards will be installed in 'CM Shri Schools'.

"The work to install 18,996 smart blackboards will be carried out in five phases. A teachers' training module to teach using the blackboards has also been passed in the meeting," he said.

The Cabinet, chaired by Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, approved more than Rs 900 crore for the digital classroom initiative, which aims to implement key components of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, according to a statement. Sood said, "The plan includes setting up 18,966 smart classrooms for Classes 9 to 12 across Delhi by 2029-30, in addition to the 2,446 already planned in 75 CM Shri Schools."
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799 smart blackboards in schools

He said only 799 smart blackboards were installed in government schools between 2014 and 2024, and those were through CSR donations. The minister said unlike past projects, which focused mostly on central and elite areas, the new reforms aim to take digital learning to schools in under-served areas such as Najafgarh, Narela, Seemapuri, Mahavir Enclave, and Kirari.

"You will be surprised to know that Delhi has a total of 37,778 classrooms in government schools, yet between 2014 and 2024, only 799 of these were equipped with smart blackboards and even those came through CSR donations, not government funding," he said. Sood dismissed opposition criticism over budget allocations, saying, "We did not cut the education budget, we prioritised it.

Others posed in front of school buildings for photos, we are investing in classrooms and teachers." Highlighting the alignment of this initiative with the NEP 2020, the minister said the reforms will help promote experiential and personalised learning.

A dedicated training module has been developed for teachers to integrate smart blackboards into their teaching process. "This is the first major step towards making Delhi's government schools better than private schools," he added. This was the 10th Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Gupta.