When digital content reaches rural classrooms: the early story of smart classes in Jhargram
For schools with limited access to reliable digital teaching resources, introducing technology is only the first step. The more important question is whether teachers can use it meaningfully in everyday lessons. With this in mind, a leading financial services and development-focused organisation partnered with iDream Education to bring Smart Classes to ten schools across Jhargram district, West Bengal, serving learners from Class 1 to 10.
The partnership brought together the organisation’s commitment to supporting school education and our experience in creating and enabling access to curriculum-aligned digital learning resources. Together, the focus was on making digital content practical, accessible and usable in classrooms – without making internet connectivity a prerequisite.
Each school received a Smart Class equipped with a 65-inch interactive flat panel, a cabinet and a 256 GB pen drive preloaded with bengal board aligned digital content for Classes 1–10 in Bengali and English. The offline-first setup meant teachers could access resources without relying on an internet connection. The rollout, including panel delivery and teacher training, was coordinated remotely by programme team, enabling all ten schools to go live without an on-ground visit.
Experiential teacher training was an important part of the implementation.
Training supported teachers in navigating the Smart Class and using multi-category teaching resources to complement their lessons. The aim was not simply to introduce a new device, but to help teachers incorporate digital resources into existing classroom practice.
Early usage data from 22 June to 13 August 2026 offers a view of how the programme was being used during its first seven weeks.
Across the ten schools, 128 active users logged 1,769 learning sessions, representing approximately 111 hours of instructional engagement. Teachers accessed 775 unique content pieces across 351 topics, spanning Classes 1–10, with the highest levels of activity in Classes 6–10.
Usage covered Science, Geography, Mathematics, Bengali, English Literature, History, Environmental Science and Biology. Language use also reflected classroom needs: 1,442 sessions were in Bengali and 327 in English.
The next phase is about learning from this usage: understanding what resources teachers return to, where adoption is stronger or slower, and what additional support schools may need. These insights can help strengthen teacher support and inform how the Smart Class model develops across the participating schools.