Soon, AI to keep an eye on UT govt schools’ upkeep

Artificial intelligence-enabled system to help education department inspect toilets, playgrounds, drinking water facilities and food and kitchen areas

Government schools in Chandigarh are going hi-tech. Soon, the education department will arm itself with artificial intelligence (AI) to digitally inspect everything from the condition of toilets and drinking-water facilities to playgrounds and food and kitchen areas.

The AI-enabled system will allow the education department to digitally inspect the schools’ toilets, playgrounds, along with food and kitchen areas. (Shutterstock)

The system, called Digital Quality Check (DigiQC), has already been developed and will be launched shortly, confirmed UT school education director Nitish Singla.

It will enable authorities to conduct digital inspections of key school facilities, identify deficiencies and track whether corrective measures have been taken.

“DigiQC is an AI-enabled inspection provision. It will support digital inspections of sanitation, food/kitchen areas, drinking-water facilities, playgrounds and other school facilities. The provision has been completed and will be launched shortly,” Singla said.

Attendance, learning gaps also under tech watch

The move is part of the education department’s wider efforts to bring government schools under closer, technology-driven monitoring. While DigiQC will focus on the physical condition and upkeep of school facilities, the Vidya Samiksha Kendra (VSK) is being used to bring attendance, assessment and other school-functioning data onto a common monitoring platform.

Under the VSK system, attendance data of students in government and private schools is being captured, while assessment data up to Class 8 is being recorded to help identify learning gaps and students requiring additional academic support.

CCTVs monitoring classrooms

For government schools, CCTV cameras are also being integrated with the VSK dashboard to enable live monitoring of school and classroom functioning. Around 60-70% of government schools have already been integrated, with the remaining schools being brought onto the system in phases.

This will give the department separate technology-based mechanisms to monitor both what is happening inside classrooms and how schools’ basic facilities are being maintained. CCTV-based monitoring is aimed at tracking classroom functioning, including whether classes are being conducted regularly and teachers are engaged in teaching, while DigiQC will provide a digital mechanism to check the condition of essential school facilities.

The VSK initiative is funded by the Government of India and forms part of the national education-monitoring framework. Chandigarh’s data feeds into the wider system used to track education indicators across states.

The department is also planning to expand the assessment component beyond Class 8 to Class 10, allowing authorities to analyse learning outcomes across a wider group of students.

“The objective is to understand what has been achieved, identify areas requiring improvement, track progress and take timely action to strengthen the overall quality of education and school facilities,” Singla said.