India to introduce AI curriculum in all schools by 2026

India plans to implement an artificial intelligence (AI) curriculum across all schools starting from Grade 3, beginning with the 2026–27 academic year. This initiative will be aligned with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and the National Curriculum Framework for School Education (NCF-SE) 2023. By December 2025, the creation of learning materials, teacher guides, and digital content will be completed. Additionally, educators will undergo structured, grade-specific training programs through NISHTHA (National Initiative for School Heads’ and Teachers’ Holistic Advancement) and other recognized institutions.

“Artificial Intelligence and Computational Thinking (AI & CT) will reinforce the concept of learning, thinking, and teaching, and will gradually expand towards the idea of ‘AI for Public Good.’ This initiative marks a nascent yet significant step towards the ethical use of AI to solve complex challenges, as the technology will be organically embedded from the foundational stage, beginning in Grade 3,” the Ministry of Education said in a statement.

On October 29, a stakeholder consultation was organized, bringing together representatives from institutions and other subject matter experts. Additionally, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has established an expert committee, led by Karthik Raman of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras, to design the AI and CT curriculum, the statement pointed out.

Sanjay Kumar, secretary of the Department of School Education and Literacy, Ministry of Education, underscored that AI education should be viewed as a fundamental universal skill connected to “The World Around Us.” He stressed that the curriculum must remain comprehensive, inclusive, and in alignment with the NCF-SE 2023, emphasizing that recognizing and nurturing every child’s unique abilities is a key priority.

While advocating for global benchmarking and learning from international education systems, he emphasized that India’s approach must ultimately be tailored to its own context and requirements. He also noted that policymakers must establish a foundational learning benchmark and revise it periodically to reflect evolving needs.

Not just India, many other countries around the world are also embracing AI to improve the quality of teaching and learning. For instance, Finland has made a pioneering move toward AI-enabled education in schools. Singapore has also invested substantially in AI initiatives, and its schools and universities are actively using generative AI tools for teaching and learning.

AI to redefine Indian education with personalized learning

“AI in education is driving changes like personalized teaching, multi-lingual and differential learning, and real-time assessments…2025 promises to be an inflexion year for Indian education with paradigm shifts led by AI,” according to a January 2025 report by Ernst & Young (E&Y)-Parthenon.

“The Indian government’s ‘National AI for All’ strategy emphasizes its willingness to learn from the best in the world on recent technology developments in AI. With this AI policy in India, the education sector can significantly benefit by learning from other countries. The government has also shown rightful intent to remain flexible toward the evolutionary nature of AI-powered education and its potential to impact education in India,” the report added.

Under the government of India’s Viksit Bharat (Developed India) 2047 vision, the education sector aims to build an inclusive, high-quality system that nurtures both skills and essential life competencies. The world’s most populous nation has about 1.5 million schools, supported by over 8.5 million teachers at the primary and secondary levels, and serving more than 260 million students each year. In higher education, over 40 million learners pursue studies across more than 1,000 universities and 42,000 colleges annually, the E&Y report noted.

Moreover, the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) has added robotics and AI to its school curriculum beginning in the 2025–26 academic year. Furthermore, top management institutes in India, such as the IIMs and ISB, have integrated AI and Generative AI into their course offerings and academic frameworks.

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Why is India investing in AI literacy?

India is investing heavily in AI because it recognizes AI as a transformative force that can drive economic growth, improve governance, and strengthen its education, healthcare, agriculture, and industrial systems. The South Asian powerhouse approved about $1.24 billion for the IndiaAI Mission, which aims to boost the country’s AI ecosystem, innovation, and entrepreneurship.

India is also expected to use AI and blockchain technology as key catalysts to achieve its $5 trillion economy target by 2027-2028. The world’s fourth-largest economy is expected to emerge as a major player in emerging technologies worldwide and become the third-largest, after the United States and China.

The push for rapid AI literacy is also driven by the federal government’s view that AI can serve as a catalyst for new-age employment opportunities. Initiatives like the National Program on Artificial Intelligence and AI education in schools and colleges aim to prepare a skilled workforce capable of handling future technologies, from quantum and data science to robotics and automation. This is especially significant because India’s NITI Aayog, the central public policy think tank of the government, pointed out in a recent report that the labor market overhaul will be at the core of India’s AI adoption. As AI technologies mature, they are expected to disrupt global employment, with estimates suggesting that as much as 35–40% of current jobs globally are prone to some level of AI-powered automation.

“International benchmarks highlight both the urgency and the opportunity: the World Economic Forum estimates 23–25% of roles will change within five years, the OECD [Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development] finds 27% of jobs are in occupations at high risk of automation,” the NITI Aayog report stated.

At the same time, India’s own Economic Survey 2024-2025 pointed out that while AI is set to introduce widespread automation of economically valuable tasks across multiple sectors, it could also lead to significant job displacement, particularly affecting workers in the middle and lower wage brackets.

“Deployment of artificial intelligence presents both opportunities and challenges,” V Anantha Nageswaran, India’s Chief Economic Advisor, said during his press conference after the release of the Economic Survey.

“Sometimes we all feel that technology eventually generates more jobs than it displaces. That is true, but the keyword is—eventually. What happens between and eventually is critical, and that is where I think we need to create supporting institutions, enabling institutions to train them, to prepare them, and academic curriculums have to change, workplace practices have to change,” Nageswaran pointed out.

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