Bhubaneswar: Only 16.18 percent of government schools in Odisha have computer facilities which are very less than the national average of 30.03 percent.
Revealed by a report on the United Information System for Education Plus (UDISE +) 2019-20 for school education in India released by the Ministry of Education.
According to the report, the state has 67,020 schools including 53,260 government schools.
But only 8,615 government schools have computer facilities.
It also revealed that only 15.96 percent of government schools had a functional computer against the national average of 28.55 percent.
Happy! You have managed to throw your voteogin to see participants, the government helps, the private sector without assistance and other schools fate better in this parameter.
As many as 3,918 of 5,839 government-assisted schools and 4,116 of 6375 schools without personal help have computer facilities.
The percentage is 67.1 percent for the government assisted and 65.56 percent for schools without private assistance higher than the national average.
The report also stated that only 2.72 percent of government schools in the state had internet facilities against the national average of 11.58 percent.
Only 1450 of 53,260 government schools in the state have internet facilities.
Likewise, 5.74 percent of the government is assisted, 35 percent of the private sector without assistance and 20.18 percent of other schools have this facility in their institutions.
These schools cannot exceed the national average too.
Anil Pradhan, the Convention on the Odisha Education Forum, said the report revealed high claims of state governments to strengthen educational infrastructure to improve school education.
“If the government school only has 15.96 percent of functional computers and 2.72 percent internet facilities, nothing will happen in the state for online education for poor students,” he added.
He said online education cannot be accessed by most government school students.
Rural students face many problems because of the poor internet and lack of smart phones.
“The reality of online education is very gloomy at the ground.
The government must strengthen digital infrastructure in schools and help students access online content easily,” he added.