Govt Schools Narrow Digital Divide As Internet Access Reaches 63.1%: UDISE+ Report | Education and Career News
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According to the UDISE+ report, Goa achieved universal internet coverage in schools, while West Bengal remained at the bottom with only 19.7% of schools connected.
News18
Internet access in government schools climbed from 46.2% in 2023-24 to 63.1% in 2025-26, according to the latest UDISE+ report. The gap between aided and private schools have reduced from nearly 28 percentage points to about 16 points. The proportion of government schools with functional smart classrooms also increased from 21.2% to 32.2%, although they continue to trail government-aided schools (41%) and private unaided schools (39.9%).
According to the latest UDISE+ report, 67.4% of all private, govt and aided schools across the country had internet connectivity in 2025-26, up from 63.5% in 2024-25 and 53.9% in 2023-24.
State-wise, Goa achieved universal internet coverage in schools, while West Bengal remained at the bottom with only 19.7% of schools connected.
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Andhra Pradesh ranked second with 99.2% internet coverage, followed by Tamil Nadu (99%), Gujarat (96.8%) and Kerala (92.6%). Goa improved from 87.6% coverage in 2023-24 to 100% in 2025-26, while Andhra Pradesh rose from 93.9% to 99.2%.
Among the five lowest-performing states, West Bengal was followed by Arunachal Pradesh (36%), Meghalaya (36.4%), Manipur (38.8%) and Tripura (42.5%). Meghalaya registered an increase of nearly 12 percentage points and Tripura gained more than seven points, whereas West Bengal saw only a modest rise from 17.5% to 19.7%.
As per the report, government-aided schools improved from 73.3% in 2023-24 to 79.7% in 2025-26, while private unaided schools increased their coverage from 74.3% to 79.2% over the same period.
A total of 69.9% of schools had computers in 2025-26, which is a rise from 59.4% in 2023-24. While 76.6% of aided schools and 80% of private unaided institutions recorded having computers. In 2023-24, around 73% aided schools and 74% private unaided schools had computers.
Smart classroom availability increased from 24.4% of schools in 2023-24 to 33.9% in 2025-26. Government schools registered the largest gain, adding about 11 percentage points, while aided schools rose from 31% to 41% and private unaided schools from 34.6% to 39.9%.
Digital libraries continue to be rare, with only 7.1% of schools reporting the facility. The share stood at 5.7% among government schools, 10.4% in government-aided schools and 11.2% in private unaided institutions.
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