The Bihar government plans to make computer education compulsory for students from Class 6 onwards in all government schools from the next academic session, Education Minister Mithilesh Tiwari said during a departmental review meeting on October 23.
The education department has been directed to prepare for the rollout, including training teachers in computer education through the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) before they begin teaching the subject.
The state has also set a March 31, 2027, deadline for introducing smart classrooms in all 700 Saraswati Vidya Niketan model schools. Officials have been instructed to speed up infrastructure work and complete pending boundary-wall construction at model schools.
11 IT firms to train teachers in AI
Separately, the Bihar Education Department has partnered with 11 information technology companies, including Google Education, to train government schoolteachers in information technology and artificial intelligence (AI).
The programme will be conducted in batches at the SCERT campus, with participating companies providing practical training. School principals will nominate teachers, while the Union government's skill development department will support the initiative. The state aims to put the training arrangements in place by January. The number of teachers to be trained and the duration of the programme have not been specified.
The state plans to extend smart-classroom facilities to other government schools in phases after the initial rollout in the 700 model schools.
Bihar expands AI training in higher education
Bihar has also announced plans to train faculty members at state universities and constituent colleges in the use of AI for academic work. The proposed training covers applications such as lecture planning, question-paper preparation and answer-script evaluation, and is linked to the University Grants Commission's Guru Dakshata faculty development programme.
The school-level computer education proposal and the teacher AI-training programme are separate initiatives. The government has not yet publicly detailed the Class 6 curriculum, the number of periods allocated to computer education, the equipment available in individual schools or how the subject will be assessed.