Studies by the Indian Institute of Management-Bangalore (IIM-B) on the impact of smart classrooms and safety and surveillance steps implemented under the Smart Cities Mission show that school enrolment has increased by 22% (in 19 cities) and crime-solving has become faster. The studies, released on Thursday, were conducted by teams of IIM-B professors and researchers as part of a partnership with the Smart Cities Mission. 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 `1,071.7 crore. Out of those cities, 19 provided data for 2015-2016 to 2023-2024, which showed an overall increase of 22% in enrolment of students. The study, by Professor Soudeep Deb and PhD scholar Kapil Gupta, used questionnaires to collect data from school authorities as well as students. The study also included visits and in-depth analysis of schools in Ajmer in Rajasthan, New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) area and Tumakuru in Karnataka. “Surveys among the secondary and senior secondary students revealed that the former group was more comfortable and appreciative of SCR [smart classroom] facilities compared to senior secondary students, who might find the adaptation to these methods challenging due to more complex subjects. Students in general agree to the learning experience being improved at all levels, but in contrast to the views of the teachers, the students think that attendance is not strongly correlated with the SCR facilities,” the report said. The report highlighted the need for data to better assess the impact of the mission. “This lack of data significantly hampers the ability to track progress over time and evaluate the effectiveness of the mission in improving educational access and gender parity. For instance, out of all the cities responding to our survey, many have zero entries for student enrolment numbers and female student proportions, indicating either a lack of data collection or reporting issues,” the report said. Speaking to The Indian Express, Prof Deb said students had expressed their support for the smart classrooms, particularly in smaller cities like Ajmer. “What was not clear to us before going to the schools was that even in the remotest parts of the country the smart classrooms were helping students,” he said. With the Smart Cities Mission expected to end in March 2025, he said it was important for the government and schools to arrange funds for the maintenance of the digital infrastructure developed so far. In another study by IIM-B released on Thursday, the impact of the Integrated Command and Control Centres (ICCCs) and the surveillance cameras installed as a part of the mission found that 93 out of the 100 Smart Cities had installed 59,802 CCTV cameras and 78 cities had installed 13.95 lakh streetlights. The report focused on three cities — Nagpur, Chennai and Tumakuru. In Nagpur, the report said police made 6,017 requests for camera footage to the ICCC, which was set up in 2018. “…they were able to provide footages for 2,196 cases (36%) which shows a great coverage of these surveillance cameras. The same footages are also used as evidence during trials to help convict the accused,” it said. The report, authored by Prof Dinesh Kumar, Shailaja Grover and Purvi Tiwari, noted that residents of the three cities had reported an increased feeling of safety. “As per the impact assessment, the implementation of the smart city initiative focusing on security and surveillance in Nagpur, Chennai and Tumakuru has led to fostering a heightened sense of safety among the city’s populace. By integrating advanced technologies like CCTV cameras and real-time monitoring systems, the authorities have been able to solve the crimes faster and effectively enforce law and order,” it said. These studies were among 50 such impact studies carried out by 29 prominent institutions, including IIMs and IITs. Launched in 2015, the Smart Cities Mission was meant to end between 2021 and 2023 (depending on the selection date of each of the 100 cities). Since then, the deadlines have been missed and the mission extended to June 2023, then June 2024 and now to March 2025. As of now, 9% of all the projects are yet to be completed.
