Shimla: The government school in Shimla’s Krishnanagar, a thickly populated area, now has a smart classes facility, thanks to the Smart City project.
Urban Development Minister Suresh Bhardwaj on Tuesday reviewed the project and revealed that all selected schools have functional smart classrooms.
This school along with 10 others in the state capital has 33 smart classrooms, said Bhardwaj, the local legislator.
He said Shimla made it to the Smart City list in the second phase. “Since then, several projects took off and many of them have been completed,” he said, adding, “In the last two years, people can feel the change.”
He said making Shimla’s school equipped with technology and other infrastructure is his priority. “We selected 12 schools and today we have almost three smart classes in each school. Besides this, some civil work was also proposed, which is on,” said four-time legislator Bhardwaj.
Shimla has some British-era convents and public schools, besides government-owned ones. “We are committed to providing better infrastructure to the people. We begin with 12 schools and I can satisfactorily say the project took off really well,” he said.
Krishnanagar, Chota Shimla, Khalini, Sanjauli, Tutikandi, Phagli, Boealeganj, Totu, Shimla, Summerhill, Lakkar Bazar, Portmore and Lalpani are the schools equipped with smart classes, he added.
The minister explained that the objectives of the project are to increase knowledge assimilation and retention among schoolchildren of the government schools. This is also aimed at harnessing the use of technology to improve the overall reach and quality of education in the government school, especially where there is a lack of skilled staff.
This project will also provide smart user-friendly solutions for students to learn in Hindi and in English medium, besides enhanced proficiency in academic subjects.
Director (Urban Development) Manmohan Sharma said after the smart classrooms, the focus now is on civil works. “The work is delayed due to the rainy season. Recently, the minister reviewed the project and the civil work in all these schools will be done by the end of this year,” he said.
–IANS