Jharkhand
Digital Habitation Mapping in Jharkhand
- 27 Nov 2025
- 2 min read
Why in News?
Jharkhand has rolled out Digital Habitation Mapping (DHM) to improve school infrastructure, monitor educational access, and reduce student dropouts by identifying habitation-level gaps.
Key Points
- About:
- Digital Habitation Mapping (DHM) is a state-wide initiative aimed at systematically assessing each habitation’s access to schools, transport networks, and essential public utilities.
- DHM supports the objectives of New Education Policy 2020 by promoting universal foundational literacy, advancing inclusive schooling, and enabling equitable allocation of educational resources based on real-time evidence.
- Key Features:
- DHM uses GIS-based, real-time visualization tools to map habitation clusters and the distances students must travel to reach the nearest school.
- The platform is integrated with UDISE+, ensuring that planning and decision-making rely on accurate, authenticated, and regularly updated school-level information.
- Planning and Focus Areas:
- Insights from DHM help authorities make data-driven decisions on establishing new schools, expanding hostel facilities, improving transport support, and upgrading existing educational infrastructure.
- The system strengthens micro-planning by guiding teacher deployment and ensuring the provision of essential amenities such as toilets, safe drinking water, electricity, and digital infrastructure.
- The initiative pays special attention to remote rural and Scheduled Tribe–dominated habitations, where scattered settlements and difficult terrain often hinder consistent school attendance and contribute to higher dropout rates.
