A teacher explains various subject concepts on a smart board at a government college in Davangere.
Credit: DH Photo
New Delhi: Introduction of smart classrooms by Smart City Mission has led to a 22 per cent increase in overall students enrolment in 19 cities between 2015-16 to 2023-24, studies by the Indian Institute of Management-Bangalore (IIM-B) have showed.
The IIM (B) carried out two studies under SAAR - Sameeksha Series of Smart Cities Mission (SCM) and real-time tracking in incidents of criminal activities in smart cities.
The studies were conducted by teams of IIM-B professors and researchers as part of a partnership with the Smart Cities Mission.
Under SAAR a study titled ‘Has there been improvement in Indian Smart Cities towards quality of education through smart classrooms for children especially poor children' was undertaken.
The report on the impact of smart classrooms found that out of the 100 smart cities, 71 developed a total of 9,433 classrooms across 2,398 government schools at a cost of Rs 1,071.7 crore. Out of those cities, 19 provided data for 2015-2016 to 2023-2024, which showed an overall increase of 22 per cent in enrollment of students.
The study report said that 41 cities have developed Digital Libraries with a total of 7,809 seating capacity. Study highlights significant impact of Digital Libraries in cities like Raipur and Tumakuru. It provided essential educational resources and supported preparations of competitive exams for students, said the report.
The study to find out the impact of real-time tracking in incidences of criminal activities in Indian Smart Cities, especially crime against women, revealed that crime solving has become faster.
Across 93 Smart Cities, over 59,802 CCTV cameras and emergency call boxes have been installed with a real-time monitoring system through ICCCs which has contributed to a safer urban environment for women. Chennai and Tumakuru leveraged advanced monitoring systems, integrating safety cameras with ICCCs to assist law enforcement in gathering critical evidence for resolving crimes efficiently. Nagpur reported a 14 per cent decline in overall crime rates post-implementation of surveillance measures, said the study.
The implementation of smart surveillance systems has reduced instances of harassment, assault and other crimes in areas with robust safety measures. Women in these three cities reported increased confidence in assessing public spaces, said the study report.