India to Roll Out AI Curriculum From Class III in 2026

News

1. UPI Meets ChatGPT in India’s Agentic Payments Pilot

2. India to Roll Out AI Curriculum From Class III in 2026

3. TCS Puts AI at the Center of its Operating Model

4. Google Cloud Launches Gemini Enterprise to Transform Workflows

5. Amazon Introduces Quick Suite, an ‘AI Teammate’ for Workplace

6. AI, Security and Satellites Take Center Stage at India Mobile Congress

India will roll out artificial intelligence (AI) as a mandatory subject for all students from Class III onwards starting in the 2026–27 academic year, expanding its push to equip schoolchildren with future-facing skills.

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) is drafting a framework for phased AI integration across grades, government officials said.

“We need to move fast so that students and teachers are properly aligned with this technology over the next two to three years,” Sanjay Kumar, Secretary, Department of School Education and Literacy, told the Press Trust of India. “The challenge will be to reach over one crore teachers across the country and orient them in imparting AI-related education.”

A pilot program is underway to train teachers in using AI tools for lesson planning and classroom activities. “Our objective is to prepare both the learner and the teacher for the digital economy,” Kumar said.

CBSE introduced AI as an optional subject for Class IX in 2019. Since then, it has adopted a multidisciplinary approach to AI training across Classes VI to XII and has conducted teacher training sessions focused on classroom application.

India’s AI in Education Plan

Under the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, CBSE currently offers a 15-hour AI skills module for Class VI and an elective AI subject for students in Classes IX to XII.

The government’s digital learning platform, DIKSHA, operated by NCERT, has incorporated AI-powered features such as keyword search and text-to-speech functions to improve accessibility, especially for visually impaired students.

Separately, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology’s National e-Governance Division has launched YUVAi (Youth for Unnati and Vikas with AI), a program aimed at teaching AI and soft skills to students in Classes VIII to XII. Participants are encouraged to build AI-based solutions for sectors such as agriculture, health, education, environment, transport, rural development, smart cities, and justice.

Private edtech firms are also aligning with the push. STEMpedia, a homegrown startup, has mapped its offering to CBSE’s AI syllabus for Classes IX and X (Subject Code 417), combining theoretical instruction with practical exercises.