Broadband connectivity will be provided to all Govt Secondary Schools: PM
Published: Mar 06, 2025
By TIOLCorplaws News Service
NEW DELHI, MAR 06, 2025: AN outreach session on 'Broadband Connectivity to Government Secondary Schools and Primary Health Centres', as part of the Post-Budget Webinars on the Union Budget 2025-26, on the theme "Investing in People, Economy, and Innovation", yesterday underscored the transformative impact these initiativeswill have in education and health sectors in rural and far-off areas of the country. It highlighted that by enabling e-learning platforms, virtual labs, digital literacy, telemedicine, and electronic health records, the initiative will help bridge the urban-rural digital divide and empower communities through seamless connectivity, e-Governance, and economic opportunities, making quality education and healthcare more accessible in rural India.
Theinteractive session dwelt at length on bridging the digital divide with the Government announcing broadband connectivity for all Government Secondary Schools and Primary Health Centres (PHCs) in rural areas under the BharatNet project, with participation from DoT, D/o School Education & Literacy and D/o Health and Family Welfare. The session brought together key stakeholders, including industry leaders, domain experts, and policymakers, to deliberate on strategies to enhance India's mission of digital inclusion.
Addressing the Webinar, the Prime Minister Narendra Modiemphasised that the government has given the same priority to investment in People, Economy and Innovation as to the infrastructure and industries: He said, the vision of Investment in People stands on three pillars – Education, Skill and Healthcare. The Prime Minister also informed that Telemedicine facility is being expanded in all Primary Health Centres across the country. He also highlighted the transformative approach of the Union Budget 2025-26 which is in line with the reform-oriented agenda undertaken by the Government.
The Union Minister of Communications and Development of North Eastern Region, Jyotiraditya M. Scindia, in hisaddress,highlighted thatbroadband connectivity will bring about "a transformation that will redefine education, healthcare, and governance in rural India. A transformation that will empower the aspirations of millions, bridging the divide between opportunity and access". He said, USD 16.1 billion will be invested in this broadband network which is the world's largest rural broadband network.
Scindia pointed out that "We are now building a digital highway which will allow every single citizen across the length and breadth of our country to be connected with not only the rest of India, but to be connected with the world". "And if we look directly at three verticals, education, health care, and governance, and economic empowerment, this is nothing less than a social revolution, a development revolution", he asserted. This, he said, will result in a vision for universal digital access, and a promise of equality in opportunity.
Stating that the first vertical of this transformation is education, the Union Ministersaid that this digital super highway will allow our children to engage themselves with the world, with smart classrooms, AI powered learning, virtual teacher training programmes.
Jyotiraditya Scindia emphasised that this initiative will unlock economic opportunities, empowerment of people, and drive entrepreneurship in rural India.
Scindia elaborated that in similar ways, in the case of health, this digital superhighway indeedwill help in saving lives. "This BharatNet programme will allow telemedicine, e-consultation, digital health records, all atthe doorstep of every single Indian across the length and breadth of our country. Rural patients will no longer have to wait to go to district hospitals, but on a virtual network will be able to get referrals, doctor's appointments, and each one of their issues being treated on a digital platform", he added.
Union Minister Scindia further pointed out that the third area is the issue of economic empowerment and unlocking opportunities for each and every one of our citizens.
The Secretary (Telecom), Dr. Neeraj Mittal, summing up the discussions, said that both teachers and students would benefit from access to online training programs, AI-driven teaching tools, and other digital literacy initiatives, enhancing the quality of learning. In terms of suggestions that emerged, he pointed out that we need to actually enhance the digital literacy, provide good quality content, and see how the next generation technologies such as 5G and 6G can bring AR, VR, high bandwidth technology to the schools to improve the students' uptake of knowledge.
On the healthcare front, Dr. Mittal noted that discussions underscored the role of telemedicine in bridging the healthcare gap for rural populations by enabling remote consultations, digital interactions, and improved disease management. Dr. Mittal said that participants suggested platforms such as eSanjeevani could also enable real-time medical assistance, diagnosis and bring tertiary best quality medical care to the doorsteps of rural patients. He said, this initiative will help bridging the digital divide, empowering the rural workforce, and strengthening governance and service delivery.
BharatNet Programme
BharatNet project is being implemented in a phased manner to provide broadband connectivity to all Gram Panchayats (GPs) and Villages beyond GPs on demand basis, across the country with objectives to promote educational & health facilities, innovations in agriculture, etc. through e-Governance, e-education, e-commerce, telemedicine, etc. dissemination of knowledge and skills, overall wellbeing of rural population.
Amended BharatNet Program is nowbeing taken up under Design, Built, Operate and Maintain (DBOM) model using a ring topology with an IP-MPLS network, along with upgradation of existing network of BharatNet Phase-I and Phase-II, creation of network in uncovered GPs, Operation & Maintenance for 10 years, and BharatNet Utilization. BSNL has been nominated as the Project Management Agency for BharatNet Project. Under BharatNet program, 1.50 crore rural home fibre connections are to be provided across all States/UTs with priority to cover Government institutions including schools, Primary Health Centers, Anganwadis, Panchayat offices etc., using the BharatNet Udyamis (BNUs) model over the next five years.
BharatNet Udyamis will be used for providing and maintaining last-mile connectivity from village to households/institutions/enterprises. BNUs will be given a one-time financial incentive for activating new home fibre connections. To incentivize continuity of services, BNUs will also receive a share of the monthly revenue. BNU could be a village level entrepreneur, Internet Service Provider, Self Help Group (SHG), etc.
The Ministry of Education & Ministry of Health and Family Welfare will ensure that schools and PHCs are equipped with necessary digital infrastructure and facilitating FTTH demand requests.
DBN/BSNL will map secondary schools and PHCs with the BharatNet network and ensure high network uptime (>90%) in connected areas. A real-time monitoring dashboard will be provided for transparency and performance tracking.
Three Post- Budget webinars, organized by NITI Aayog, were aimed at providing a collaborative platform for government officials,subject matter specialists and industry leadersto align efforts and drive impactful implementation of Budget announcements.
