Odisha mulling smart classrooms to tide over teacher shortage

Bhubaneswar: In a move which could resolve shortage of teachers, Odisha Higher Education Department has decided to set up ‘smart classrooms’ in 101 degree colleges across the State.

As per official sources, the Higher Education Department has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with TCIL, Ministry of Communication to set up 135 smart classrooms in the State.

Under the project, all the smart classrooms with modern day audio visual systems will be interconnected. As a result, students of Balasore or any other part of the State can also study simultaneously what senior lecturers will be teaching in a college in Bhubaneswar.

As all the classes of various subjects will be recorded, the students can go through the chapters to clear their doubts as all the data will be stored in a common database which can be accessed easily.

“The Higher Education Department is bringing several transformative changes to enhance quality of education. A MoU has been signed with TCIL for 135 classrooms,” said additional secretary, Higher Education Department, Parthasarathi Mishra.

Mishra further said that Rs 7 lakh will be spent towards setting up one smart classroom. So far, 94 smart classrooms have been set up and the project will be launched from this academic session, he added.