Bihar to Make Computer Education Compulsory from Class 6 in Government Schools, Smart Classes for 700 Model Schools by March 2027

Bihar is preparing to make computer education a compulsory subject for every student from Class 6 onwards in government schools, beginning with the next academic session. The move, announced by state Education Minister Mithilesh Tiwari, is one of the clearest signals yet that the state wants digital literacy to sit at the core of the school timetable rather than on its margins.

The direction was issued at a departmental review meeting chaired by the minister at Vikas Bhawan in Patna on 23 October 2026, where officials were asked to begin groundwork for the rollout, according to reports by EdexLive and Patna Press.

Teachers first, then classrooms

Before the subject reaches students, the department will train teachers in computer education through the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT). The sequencing is deliberate: the state wants teachers to be confident with the content and tools before they are expected to teach it.

Alongside the curriculum change, the minister set a firm infrastructure deadline. All 700 Saraswati Vidya Niketan model schools are to be equipped with smart classrooms by 31 March 2027, with officials told to speed up pending works, including boundary walls, and to make effective use of central funds. Smart-classroom facilities are expected to be extended to other government schools in phases once the model-school rollout is complete.

Part of a wider digital push

The Class 6 decision builds on a series of recent steps by the Bihar Education Department to bring technology into teaching. The department has separately tied up with 11 IT companies, including Google Education, to train government schoolteachers in IT and artificial intelligence in batches at the SCERT campus, with arrangements targeted for January. The state has also outlined plans to train faculty at state universities and constituent colleges in using AI for lecture planning, question-paper setting and answer-script evaluation, linked to the University Grants Commission’s Guru Dakshata faculty development programme.

The minister also sought an updated progress report on works under the PM SHRI scheme during the same review.

What is still to be spelt out

The government has not yet published the Class 6 computer education syllabus, the number of periods to be allotted to the subject, the hardware available in individual schools, or how the subject will be assessed. Those details, along with device availability and connectivity in rural schools, will determine how quickly the policy translates into meaningful classroom learning.

Why it matters

For a state with one of India’s largest school-going populations, making computer education compulsory from the middle-school years could narrow the digital divide for lakhs of children in government schools, many of whom have limited access to devices at home. It is also closely aligned with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020’s emphasis on introducing coding, computational thinking and digital skills early. Execution — trained teachers, working labs and reliable power and internet — will be the real test.