PANAJI: There are three smart classrooms in the aided high school in which Sachin Naik (name changed) teaches in Tudal, Canacona. Like in most schools, the smart classrooms were readied with donations or with funds set aside from govt maintenance grants, after state asked institutes to lay stress on integrating technology into teaching as recommended by the National Education Policy (NEP), 2020.However, on most days,there is poor to no internet connectivity available, forcing teachers in a number of schools to use the smart boards like ordinary black boards on most occasions.There is one smart classroom in our school on each floor. But we only have a BSNL tower in the area, with unpredictable connectivity. The tower also does not have a power backup so network can go off suddenly. Without internet connectivity, we have to use the smart board to write on like a regular black board. The school has taken a WiFi connection from a private player but we cannot provide routers in all corners of the building,” said Naik. But we have WiFi on the ground floor to receive at least emergency WhatsApp calls.On paper, along with Delhi and Chandigarh, Goa is among a handful of states or UTs with internet connectivity in 100% of its 1,473 schools, according to the Union education ministry’s unified district information system for education report for 2025-26. However, the reality is entirely different on the ground.“The Goa broadband network announced by govt has not helped improve internet connectivity in the state. We have to take an internet connection from a private player, because due to competition from competitors, they at least attend to network issues quickly. Govt has implemented NEP but has not provided the infrastructure required to back the policy. It is no point to the smartboards if half the time is spent in videos buffering,” said Satyesh Kakodkar, manager, New Educational Institute, Curchorem.Chairman of Shree Nirakar Education Society, Prashant Naik, whose society runs two schools each in Mashemand Gaondongrim in Canacona with an enrolment of 1,000 students, said that schools in almost all parts of Quepem, Sanguem, and Canacona are facing internet connectivity issues, disallowing schools from making optimum use of smartboards.“We have both internet connectivity problems as well as power supply issues, and without these we just cannot use the apparatus.The internet situation is worse during the monsoon. We have to schedule the use of smartboards accordingly in the windows that both internet connectivity and power supply are available. Govt makes announcements like on the use of technology in teaching, but has been lethargic in acting on it,” said Naik.A teacher from a Pernem school questioned the need for smartboards as poor connectivity does not allow videos to be played. “We have to load the videos on pendrives and then play them on the smartboards,” said the teacher.
