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Abstract

Solar-powered digital infrastructure is increasingly being promoted as a sustainable solution for rural education; however, its long-term viability depends less on technological deployment than on institutional management capacity. This study examines how solar-powered digital classrooms (SPDCs) are governed, financed, and sustained in eleven rural government schools in Telangana, India. Drawing on the Technology Acceptance Model and an institutional perspective on sustainability, the study conceptualizes renewable energy integration as a public-sector management process rather than a purely technological intervention. An exploratory case study design was employed using semi-structured interviews, classroom observations, and institutional document analysis. The findings indicate that while solar installations improve energy reliability, reduce electricity expenditure, and support digitally mediated instruction, long-term sustainability depends on institutionalized governance mechanisms, lifecycle-oriented financing, structured maintenance systems, and continuous teacher capacity development. In the absence of these conditions, solar initiatives remain short-term, project-based interventions rather than durable institutional assets. The study contributes to sustainability and management scholarship by reframing solar-powered educational infrastructure as an organizational capability shaped by governance, finance, and institutional learning processes. As the analysis is limited to eleven schools in a single district, the findings are context-specific but offer transferable insights for similar resource-constrained settings.

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