Teacher training in AI will be primary focus in next 3-4 months: Official

The Education Ministry will focus on training teachers in the use of Artificial Intelligence tools over the next three to four months to support classroom teaching, lesson planning and student assessment, a senior official said.

The Education Ministry will focus on training teachers in the use of Artificial Intelligence tools over the next three to four months to support classroom teaching, lesson planning and student assessment, a senior official said. The remarks came after Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan launched the ''AI Literacy for Teachers'' programme at the IIT Madras Technology Summit held at Bharat Mandapam on May 5. The initiative, announced by Bodhan AI, aims to train 10 lakh teachers by 2027. Bodhan AI is a Centre of Excellence in AI for Education incubated at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras. ''There is a textbook which has to be taught, and as of now, we have apportioned classrooms in maths classes. We have done that, so the teacher needs to be trained to teach those AI courses because many teachers may themselves not know what AI is,'' a senior official in the Ministry of Education said. ''The new textbooks being brought out by NCERT can be integrated with AI tools to help teachers access content, develop lesson plans and create assessments and question banks for students,'' the official added. ''So, AI as a pedagogical tool, AI for governance, and also AI as a concept, the teacher needs to understand it before he transmits it to the students,'' he said. Our primary focus over the next three to four months will be teacher training, the official said, welcoming Bodhan AI's participation in the initiative. According to an official statement, ''AI Literacy for Teachers'' programme seeks to integrate AI into routine teaching practices, including lesson planning, content creation, assessments and student feedback systems, with the aim of reducing teacher workload and improving learning outcomes. Pradhan said the initiative would help create a ''responsible, ethical and India-centric AI ecosystem in education'' aligned with the vision of Viksit Bharat. The minister said, ''As we move from vision to execution, initiatives like the AI Literacy Program for Teachers are pivotal to shaping India's unique pathway in artificial intelligence: one that is inclusive in access, interoperable in design, and sovereign in capability.'' ''By integrating AI into everyday classrooms, we are not merely introducing technology; we are empowering our teachers to become architects of a future-ready India. Training 1 million (10 lakh) teachers is more than a milestone of scale; it is the foundation of a responsible, ethical, and India-centric AI ecosystem in education, firmly aligned with PM Narendra Modi's vision of Viksit Bharat,'' he added. Director of IIT Madras V. Kamakoti said AI literacy among teachers was essential to ensure meaningful adoption of technology in classrooms. ''India's strength lies in its scale and diversity, and technology must rise to meet that complexity. As AI begins to reshape education, building AI literacy among teachers becomes foundational to ensuring meaningful adoption.'' ''This initiative demonstrates how AI can be integrated into everyday teaching practices, enabling teachers to enhance pedagogy, improve efficiency, and deliver better learning outcomes at scale,'' Kamakoti said. Bodhan AI Principal Investigator Mitesh Khapra said the programme aimed to make AI a ''trusted co-pilot'' for teachers by helping them improve instructional quality and save time on routine tasks. The initiative will be rolled out in phases, beginning with pilot projects in the coming months, followed by the launch of the first public cohort on Teachers' Day on September 5. It is expected to scale to 10 lakh teachers by 2027.