With over 260 million students in its 1.5 million schools, India has the biggest education system in the world. It is widely agreed that the country has made commendable strides in expanding its educational provision in over seven decades since independence. What had been inherited as an impoverished ecosystem, beset by quality problems, has been transformed into an organised system of education through collective action, backed by progressive policies.

Given the pace of technological advancement, the educational strategies need regular reviews and updation, and one that doesn’t take into account the requirements of industry 4.0 cannot be considered a prudent plan. While a lot of meaningful work has been done, there is still a lot that needs doing by collective action from the government, educators and the innovation industry. India is rising to the occasion by integrating Artificial Intelligence as well as AI-induced solutions to overcome shortcomings in its education sector.

Schools in India have been plagued by high dropout rates, especially at the upper elementary and secondary levels in the backward sections of the society. This trend is capable of causing a major dent in the human resource ambitions of the country. In light of increasing dropouts, the Andhra Pradesh government has been working in partnership with Microsoft to cover more than 5 million students in 10000+ schools as of 2017. By leveraging the power of machine learning and analytics, a Microsoft app is able to predict the chances of a student dropping out, based on patterns identified from complex datasets. This initiative by the South Indian state is aimed at taking corrective actions to keep young people in school by drafting proactive policies aided by AI-based intervention.

The problems of poor learning outcomes and rote learning can be attributed to the ineffective and outdated methods of instruction and delivery, that largely conform to the one-size-fits-all approach. In reality, every child is unique, and so are their learning challenges, and each needs to be engaged with differently at an atomic level. The EdTech startup Jungroo Learning is helping educational institutes and NGOs across the country to solve this adaptability problem. By deploying reinforcement learning on its SaaS platform, Jungroo is transforming the way we teach and learn. Its powerful AI algorithms are capable of identifying the learning goals for each child, and the intelligent automated tools lead the students on the shortest path to realising these goals, all while providing real-time assessment of their growth. Jungroo aims to improve the quality of education by crafting adaptive teaching tools to personalise the learning experience.

There is still a vast share of our young population that is devoid of any formal education opportunities, even at the primary level. This loophole puts the future of many bright kids in limbo and amplifies inequality in society. By using affordable tech devices in combination with AI-based smart learning tools, this disadvantaged segment can be uplifted to basic levels of literacy and numeracy. Sutara Learning has developed a gamified and customised learning system in the form of an AI-powered chatbot called Chimple that uses natural language processing (NLP) to guide the students throughout their journey of self-learning. This can also be used as a remedial measure for the lagging students in formal education, who are unable to get personalised instruction in highly heterogeneous classes. Chimple is an innovative application of AI that offers scalable solutions for solving the accessibility problem of the education sector.

There is a lack of training opportunities for the teaching faculty, especially pertaining to digitalisation and use of ICTs in education. This gap needs immediate addressal given the rapid proliferation of cloud-based tools in K-12 teaching and a subsequent need for tech-friendly facilitators. As a head start, CBSE and Microsoft have joined hands to set up a capacity building program for teachers of classes 8-10 in September 2019. Through hands-on training of Microsoft 360 tools, 1000 teachers have been empowered in the first phase to use AI-based solutions in the teaching process, such as the creation of a personalised learning experience, digital storytelling, conducting virtual classes, and creating BOTS. This practical approach to solving the skilling problem strives to create an enhanced learning experience for students of the 21st century.

India has set ambitious targets for its education sector to be achieved by 2030, in line with Goal 4 (i.e. Quality Education) of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In the long and arduous way ahead, the most effective strategies must integrate the use of innovative, tech-driven enablers. Digitisation alone, however, is not a sustainable cure; we need a practical, targeted and application-driven approach enabled by AI to ensure that we are delivering inclusive and high-quality education to our bulging youth population. With 28 per cent of the population below 14 years and an army of 600 million young people under 25 years, India is in a position to generate massive demographic dividends by creating the right opportunities for its human capital.

It is evident that AI intervention is capable of providing personalised solutions on the micro-level, as well as scalable solutions that shape policies and bring about macro-level changes in the education sector. Hence, innovation powered by Artificial Intelligence has massive potential for catalysing social and economic good in India.