A total of 184 classrooms in nine Kendriya Vidyalayas in Odisha have been digitised.

Union Petroleum and Steel Minister Dharmendra Pradhan inaugurated the smart classrooms in the central schools -- six in Bhubaneswar, two in Khorda Road and one in Cuttack on Saturday.

The 184 classrooms were converted to smart classrooms at a cost of Rs four crore, as part of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) of the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), officials said.

Some 12,300 students are likely to benefit from the initiative, they said.

The smart classrooms will be equipped with computers, specialised software for learning, audience response technology, assistive listening devices, networking and audio-visual capabilities, the officials said.

Speaking on the occasion, Pradhan said he was inspired to start smart classrooms in India after his 2005 tour of the United States.

"With the inauguration of the 184 smart classrooms in Odisha, digitised at a cost of Rs four crore, we have 400 smart classrooms across the country developed by ONGC at a total cost of Rs eight crore," he said.

Pradhan said the smart classrooms will enlarge the horizon of knowledge.

Citing examples of former president Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and eminent space scientist Kailasavadivoo Sivan, Pradhan urged the students of the Kendriya Vidyalayas to strive for achieving their goals.