HYDERABAD: If the promise of “smart classrooms” once signalled a technological step forward for government schools in Hyderabad, the present condition of Interactive Flat Panels (IFPs) tells a different story.
Two years after the School Education Department replaced blackboards with touch-screen panels for Classes 8, 9 and 10, many of these devices are now lying unused on classroom walls.
Across several schools, the IFPs have become unresponsive — blinking, freezing or not switching on at all — largely due to weak internet connectivity and the absence of Open Pluggable Specification (OPS) units.
Without OPS, the panels cannot function, leaving teachers with little option but to return to traditional blackboards, chalk in hand.
In 2023, when the department adopted IFPs statewide, the goal was noble: digital learning, multimedia content, DIKSHA videos, interactive lessons — everything a classroom of the future might need. What no one accounted for, however, was the lack of maintenance.
A few technical in-charges were appointed, but their visits, teachers say, have not resulted in any resolution of the issues.
In many schools, OPS units were never installed at all, and in several others, the panels were provided only to English-medium sections, leaving Telugu and Urdu mediums without access.
Meanwhile, internet connectivity in many schools remains so fragile that even if the panels did work, they would struggle harder than the students during exams.
“It has been more than a year that one of our IFPs is not working,” said M Ravinder, in-charge headmaster of a government school in Secunderabad.
“The technical team visited just for the sake of visiting. They closed the complaint without solving anything. If this is fixed, we can actually use the panel for students.”
Another teacher, requesting anonymity said. “We are tired of complaining for OPS installation. Without OPS the panel simply won’t work. So we are back to blackboards.”
If long-term planning ever catches up, perhaps these panels might yet fulfil their intended purpose. Until then, students will learn the old-fashioned way, and the IFPs will remain on classroom walls as quiet reminders of innovation paused midway.
The story is reported by Meghna Nath of The New Indian Express