Government sanctions French-funded smart classes for Corpn schools

The development came after the civic body won the City Investments to Innovate, Integrate and Sustain (CITIIS) Challenge conducted by the French Development Agency (AFD). “We have submitted four projects to the AFD, and they have selected smart classes project. Now, the State government has agreed to repay the loan to be disbursed by the funding agency,” anofficial said.

As per the arrangement, AFD would provide Rs 96 crore loan to the civic body. The State government would repay 40 per cent of the loan while the Central government would repay another 40 per cent. The remaining 20 per cent would be sanctioned under Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) mode. As many as 28 schools already have smart classrooms. “The new smart classes will have additional facilities when compared to the already existing smart classes,” the official added.

The 28 smart classes are equipped with WiFi connection, tablets for each student, CCTV monitoring, smart boards for accessing online resources and to provide a better and interactive learning experience.

The civic body submitted four projects such as a stadium in Sholinganallur, multi-modal integration of transport, augmented reality and smart classrooms, of which smart classroom project won the nation-wide competition.