Bihar Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary on Thursday, 16 July 2026, inaugurated the Bihar Smart Class programme across all Model Schools administered by the state Education Department, marking a significant step in the government's push to bring digital learning infrastructure to government-run institutions.

Context

Sharing a live broadcast of the inauguration ceremony on social media, CM Samrat Choudhary posted: 'शिक्षा विभाग द्वारा आयोजित सभी मॉडल स्कूलों में बिहार स्मार्ट क्लास का उद्घाटन कार्यक्रम' — ('Inauguration programme of Bihar Smart Class in all Model Schools organised by the Education Department'). The event was broadcast live, underscoring the government's intent to signal transparency and scale in the rollout.

The Bihar Education Department has been overseeing the state's network of Model Schools — government institutions established to demonstrate improved facilities, better teacher deployment, and higher teaching standards compared to ordinary state-run schools. These schools have served as testbeds for successive education reforms in Bihar.

Policy Backdrop

The Smart Class launch aligns directly with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, which mandated the integration of digital tools and technology-assisted learning into school curricula across India. Following the policy's adoption, Bihar began expanding digital infrastructure projects in selected government schools as part of a phased modernisation effort.

The initiative also builds on a longer arc of state investment in school education. Bihar introduced the Mukhyamantri Balika Cycle Yojana in 2007 to boost secondary-school enrolment among girls, and subsequent governments have layered technology and infrastructure upgrades onto that foundation. The Smart Class programme represents the latest layer — bringing interactive digital content directly into classrooms.

Across India, multiple states accelerated smart-classroom rollouts after 2020 to address learning gaps exposed by pandemic-related school closures. Bihar's programme follows the same pattern of deploying digital content on existing model-school infrastructure, while positioning the state within the broader national push for technology-enabled learning outcomes.

Stakeholders and Impact

The primary beneficiaries of the Bihar Smart Class programme are students enrolled in the state's Model School network and the teachers who instruct them. Smart classrooms typically provide teachers with interactive whiteboards, digital content libraries, and audio-visual tools that supplement conventional textbook instruction.

Bihar Education Department officials and school administrators are also key stakeholders, as the programme requires sustained maintenance, teacher training, and content updates to remain effective. State education officials will be responsible for monitoring adoption and usage rates across all covered schools during the 2026-27 academic year.

What's Next

Attention will now turn to phased rollout reports and any independent assessment of learning outcomes in schools covered under the Bihar Smart Class initiative. The government's ability to sustain and expand the programme beyond the existing Model School network will likely feature in the next state education budget discussion.

Should early outcome data from the 2026-27 academic year prove favourable, Bihar may face pressure — and opportunity — to extend smart-classroom infrastructure to a broader set of government schools, moving the programme from a model-school pilot into a state-wide intervention.