School Education Department directs local bodies to bear internet fees of govt. schools

The School Education Department issued a government order stating that local bodies will now pay for the internet facility for government schools falling under their area.

According to the order, the internet facility fee for government schools will be paid by the concerned local bodies and the expenditure to the tune of ₹5.49 crore for the facility in municipal schools will be allocated from the State fund.

Further, as the installation of the facility comes under BSNL, the department has directed that steps be taken to reduce the charges and the schools should use the services of the Tamil Nadu FibreNet Corporation Limited.

The department had announced that smart class rooms and hi-tech labs would be established in government primary schools and middle schools. The department was to provide a 100 Mbps internet facility for government primary, middle, high and higher secondary schools.

The primary schools would receive internet at 50Mbps while the middle schools, high and higher secondary schools would receive it at 100 Mbps.

Previously, the internet charges were covered under the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan funds. However, the Union government has withheld the funds for over a year. The project approval board had allocated ₹3,586 crore under SSA for 2024-2025 to Tamil Nadu. Of this, the Union govt’s share is ₹2,152 crore (60%).