In May 2020, as India was preparing to overhaul its education policy, the Narendra Modi government held a review meeting on education that placed technology at the centre, to help build what the government described as a “global knowledge super power”.

Two months later, the Union Cabinet approved the National Education Policy. It made digital literacy, coding and computational thinking essential skills for every student. Coding activities were proposed to begin in the middle stage (Grades 6–8), while mathematics and computational thinking had to receive stronger focus from the foundational years. 

In September that year, PM Modi spoke about what education should look like in the 21st century – from coding to artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, cloud computing, data science and robotics.

But five years later, the latest 2025-26 UDISE+ (Unified District Information System for Education Plus) data presents a stark picture on digital awareness inside India’s schools. UDISE+ describes itself as the Ministry of Education’s official school education information system and says its data is collected from recognised schools and validated through administrative levels.

Across India, there were 14,66,682 recognised schools in 2025-26. Of these, 10,05,245 were government schools. But only 2,56,165 government schools reported having a functional desktop computer or PC.

That means just 25.5 percent of government schools had a functional desktop or PC. Put differently, nearly three out of every four government schools in India did not report a functional desktop or PC in 2025-26. The number is 7,49,080 schools.

But this data isn’t surprising. The figures look even worse when we focus on the big northern states. But first, let’s look at the government versus private breakdown.

The national figure becomes even more striking when government schools are placed beside private unaided schools.

Of the 3,41,689 private unaided schools in the country, 2,15,889 reported a functional desktop or PC. That is 63.2 percent. So the difference between government and private unaided schools is 37.7 percentage points.

Worst 5 states 

The national average hides some extraordinary differences between states.

At one end of the table is Uttar Pradesh. The country’s most populous state had 1,37,103 government schools in 2025-26. Of these, only 8,821 reported functional desktop or PC availability. That is 6.4 percent.

It means 1,28,282 government schools in Uttar Pradesh did not report a functional desktop or PC.

And Uttar Pradesh is not an isolated case.

Madhya Pradesh had 91,199 government schools. Only 6,972 had functional desktops or PCs, giving it an availability rate of 7.6 percent. Meghalaya also recorded 7.6 percent, although its government school network is much smaller.

Bihar had 76,435 government schools. Only 7,298 had a functional desktop or PC. Its rate was 9.5 percent.

In absolute terms, that means 69,137 Bihar government schools did not report a functional desktop or PC.

The numbers remain low across several large states. Assam reported 13.1 percent, Chhattisgarh 13.2 percent and Jharkhand 13.3 percent. Odisha stood at 17.1 percent. Andhra Pradesh was at 17.6 percent and West Bengal at 18.4 percent.

At the other end are states and Union territories where the numbers are dramatically different.

Tamil Nadu reported functional desktop availability in 85.8 percent of its 37,539 government schools. That means 32,194 government schools had functional desktops or PCs. Punjab reported 95.2 percent – 18,314 of its 19,241 government schools. Uttarakhand reported 66.1 percent, with 10,459 of 15,834 government schools having functional desktops or PCs. Gujarat reported 68.8 percent, with 23,900 of its 34,734 government schools having them. Sikkim recorded 71.9 percent.

The five southern states Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana together have 1,63,185 government schools. Of these, 62,475 have functional desktops or PCs, meaning 38.3 percent of government schools in the South have a functional desktop.

The remaining 23 states, excluding all Union Territories, have 8,18,595 government schools, of which 1,85,918 report functional desktops or PCs. That translates to just 22.7 percent. 

The northeastern states show an even lower combined rate. Across Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura and Sikkim, about 17.7 percent of government schools reported functional desktop/PC availability when weighted by the number of government schools.

The Northeast contains both very low and relatively high-performing states. Meghalaya is at 7.6 percent, Manipur at 12.2 percent and Assam at 13.1 percent. Nagaland is at 58.6 percent, Mizoram at 41 percent, Tripura at 39.6 percent and Sikkim at 71.9 percent.

Among Union territories, several figures are close to universal availability. Chandigarh reported 100 percent, Lakshadweep 100 percent, Delhi 99.9 percent, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu 99.7 percent, and Puducherry 98.8 percent.

But these figures must be read with the size of the school system in mind. Chandigarh had only 116 government schools in the table and Lakshadweep 34. 

Over the four years from 2022-23 to 2025-26, the percentage of government schools in India with functional PCs rose by only 5.3 percentage points from 20.2 percent to 25.5 percent. Meanwhile, only 11.7 percent of Indian government schools have a functional laptop or notebook.

The findings also come as CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke’s ‘School Thik Karo’ campaign has drawn attention to the condition of government schools. His village school has since received its first computers, highlighting one of the gaps in access to functional computing infrastructure that official data points to nationwide.

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