Government schools in Ranchi are set to undergo a digital revamp with the district administration rolling out plans for setting up "tab-labs" on select campuses on a pilot basis.

Officials said depending on the success of the pilot project, more schools will be covered under the initiative to promote digital literacy among government school children, most of whom are from humble backgrouns.

In the first phase, tab-labs have been set up in 20 middle and high schools in Ranchi’s Khelari block. As many as 30 tablets have been fitted to benches in each class. In the second phase, officials said, they have identified the same number of schools in Burmu block where the gadgets are expected to be fitted in another month.

“Each tab-lab has been set up at a cost of Rs 7 lakh. We are using funds from the district mineral foundation trust (DMFT) for this project,” said an official of the district education department, describing it as a first-of-its-kind initiative in Jharkhand.

Deputy development commissioner Vishal Sagar said the idea to set up tab-labs emerged because of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic which has reinforced the idea of digital education.

“Even though schools have started to reopen following a fall in Covid cases in the state, these labs will continue to assist students access quality content and hone their academic skills. The tabs have preloaded content on various subjects like general studies, science, in additon to study material on the basic syllabus,” he said.

The state education department is also eyeing to set up at least three model schools in each of the 24 districts by the year-end.

“We are converting three category of schools—district school, girls high school and Kasturba Vidyalaya — in each district into model schools, work for which is underway at a rapid pace,” said an official of the department, adding that once the school buildings were ready, the government would start providing books and other resources like in private schools.

“After this, the state government will start construction work on 325 model schools at the block level. These schools will have all modern infrastructure so that children from poor families can access quality education,” he said.