On remote river islands in eastern India’s Assam state, solar power is helping children access education more reliably, reports Mongabay India’s Shailesh Shrivastava.
Schools in Assam’s Brahmaputra River Valley recently introduced digital classroom infrastructure, bringing audio-visual learning to children. For some students, this shift from chalkboard-only teaching has been a game changer.
“Until last year, a subject like science was a bit difficult to pursue, though we have a very nice teacher. The new audio-visual method helps us learn faster,” said Rajibul Hoque, a student at Lakhipur Middle School in Barpeta district.
However, digital education requires an uninterrupted power supply, historically a challenge for schools in the Brahmaputra River’s islands and floodplains that frequently get inundated during the monsoons. Not all schools here are connected to grid electricity, and even for those that are, the power supply can be unreliable. Solar energy is now increasingly bridging the gap.
According to 2023-2024 data from India’s Ministry of Education, Assam has 45,008 government schools, of which 3,048 are powered by solar panels. Teachers report benefits other than just better access to digital learning in solar-powered schools.
Jaher Ali, a teacher at Lakhipur Middle School, said reliable electricity from solar panels at the school also ensures basic facilities for the students, including fans and filtered water systems. Previously, the children had to study in extreme heat and humidity.
Nur Jaman Seikh, a teacher in a village in Darrang district, said her school got solar panels about three years ago. “Prior to that, children were facing the heat and falling sick very often. Our area is very backward and poverty is prevalent here, many students come to school without eating anything. In that situation, being exposed to humid and hot classrooms, intensifies the difficulties for them. The fans we have now have helped up to some extent, if not completely.”
Meanwhile, some island schools connected to grid electricity suffer from frequent power cuts and damage to power lines because of floods.
Mafida Khatun, a teacher in Khar Balli village, Barpeta district, said her school was connected to the grid in 2021, and digital classes set up in February 2025. However, she said e-learning was interrupted because the electricity supply was cut off due to the swelling Beki River, one of the major tributaries of the Brahmaputra.
In a 2021 study, the World Resource Institute (WRI) noted that as extreme weather events associated with climate change become more frequent and intense, there will be greater demand for alternative or backup electricity sources for essential services, including digital education and health care. In areas like the Brahmaputra’s floodplains, decentralized solar energy solutions would be generally more resilient than centralized electricity infrastructure, the report added.
Read the full story by Shailesh Shrivastava here.
Banner image: Solar panels at Madhya Dhalpur school in Assam’s Darrang district. Image by Shailesh Shrivastava/Mongabay India.
This story first appeared on Mongabay
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