Virtual Reality in Indian Science Education: A Review of Pedagogical Benefits, Systemic Barriers, and Implementation Pathways

Abstract

Virtual Reality (VR) is increasingly positioned as a transformative tool for science education, offering immersive visualization, repeatable virtual experimentation, and interactive engagement with abstract concepts. In India, the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 explicitly promotes experiential and technology-enabled learning, creating a favorable policy environment for VR adoption. However, the gap between policy ambition and classroom reality remains wide. This review synthesizes peer-reviewed literature and policy documents from 2015 to 2025 to examine three dimensions of VR integration in Indian science education: (a) empirically demonstrated pedagogical benefits, (b) systemic barriers related to infrastructure, teacher readiness, linguistic diversity, and assessment alignment, and (c) strategic pathways for equitable implementation. The review identifies a clear gap in the existing literature: while numerous studies document VR's affordances in controlled settings, few examine the conditions under which these benefits translate to resource-constrained Indian classrooms at scale. The analysis further highlights that VR is not a pedagogical panacea; evidence of its effectiveness is context-dependent, and uncritical adoption risks deepening rather than bridging educational inequities. The paper concludes with a phased implementation framework and specific directions for future empirical research.