GUWAHATI: Responding to a newspaper report claiming that 1,640 government schools in Assam lack electricity, the state government said the report is inaccurate and clarified that far fewer schools remain without power. The clarification was posted by Assam Education Minister Ranoj Pegu on X.
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According to the government, of the schools cited in the report, 643 are already powered through solar energy systems. As a result, only 676 schools, around 1.53% of Assam’s 44,243 government schools, currently have no electricity. It added that ₹4 crore has already been earmarked in the current financial year to provide electricity connections to all the remaining schools.
On sanitation, the government said it has achieved 100% coverage of girls’ toilets in all government schools across the state. It noted that only 283 schools, representing 0.64% of the total, do not yet have boys’ toilets. Construction of boys’ toilets in these schools has already been initiated during the current financial year.
Highlighting progress in digital infrastructure, the government said Assam has 11,282 upper primary and secondary schools, including 177 centrally managed institutions such as Kendriya Vidyalayas and Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas.
Of the 10,965 schools managed by the state government, 10,033 schools, or 91.5%, are already equipped with at least one digital learning facility, including ICT laboratories, tele-education facilities or smart classrooms.
The remaining 936 schools are yet to receive digital infrastructure. The government said that during the current financial year, 328 additional schools will be equipped with ICT laboratories, reducing the number of uncovered schools to 608. This would leave only 1.4% of government schools without any digital learning facility.
The government added that it has prepared a plan to achieve full digital infrastructure coverage in the remaining schools during the next financial year.
The clarification comes amid public scrutiny over the state of school infrastructure, with the government maintaining that targeted interventions are already underway to achieve complete coverage of electricity, sanitation and digital learning facilities in all government schools.