Parliament Question: Artificial Intelligence Literacy in Schools

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF SCHOOL EDUCATION & LITERACY LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 171 ANSWERED ON 01.12.2025 Artificial Intelligence Literacy in Schools 171. Shri Chamala Kiran Kumar Reddy: Will the Minister of EDUCATION be pleased to state: (a) whether the Government is considering to priorities the foundational learning up to the age of 12 years and provide literacy and skills in Artificial Intelligence (AI) to the student of middle school; (b) if so, the details thereof and the steps taken by the Government in this regard; and (c) the funds spent by the Government thereon? ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION (SHRI JAYANT CHAUDHARY) (a) to (c): The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, in para 2.2 emphasises attaining foundational literacy and numeracy for all children under age of 11 years as an urgent national mission. It states that “Attaining Foundational Literacy and Numeracy (FLN) for all children will thus become an urgent national mission, with immediate measures to be taken on many fronts and with clear goals that will be attained in the short term, including that every student will attain foundational literacy and numeracy by Grade 3.” In alignment with NEP 2020, the Government of India launched the National Initiative for Proficiency in Reading with Understanding and Numeracy (NIPUN) Bharat Mission to ensure that every child attains foundational literacy and numeracy by the end of Grade 2 which correspond to age group of 3 to 8 years.. To support this mission digitally, Digital Infrastructure for Knowledge Sharing (DIKSHA) hosts a dedicated NIPUN Bharat vertical, providing organized Foundational Literacy & Numeracy (FLN) aligned content, teacher training modules, and multilingual teaching-learning resources for educators, students, and parents, and the NIPUN Bharat vertical has 2,446 e-contents available on DIKSHA. DIKSHA is supporting the FLN vision through the e-Jaadui Pitara initiative, which is a digital and physical repository of play-based, age-appropriate learning resources for the foundational stage. The e-Jaadui Pitara mobile app offers interactive stories, games, rhymes, activities and multimedia content designed to enhanceearly language and numeracy development. It supports joyful, experiential learning both in schools and at home, and also enables parental engagement in the child’s early learning journey. The e-Jaadui Pitara app has 789 e-contents available. Apart from e- Jaadui Pitara physical Jaadui Pitara(JP) was launched on 20th February 2023, JP is a collection of 53 Learning-Teaching Materials (LTM) (toys, games, puzzles, story cards, etc.) for children aged 3-6 years in 23 languages. Play and activity-based textbooks for classes 1 and 2 have also been prepared and shared with States/UTs (Hindi- “Sarangi”, English- “Mridang”, “Mathematics- Joyful-Mathematics and Anandmay-Ganit” and Urdu- “Shahnai”) fulfilling NEP 2020 and NCF-FS (National Curricular Framework for Foundational Stage) recommendations. Primers in 121 Local Languages have been developed for foundational literacy and numeracy in mother tongues spoken by populations of at least 10,000. The NEP 2020 emphasizes on developing relevant concepts and attaining requisite competencies to facilitate optimal learning when children start schooling. Keeping in focus the holistic development, 3 months play based ‘School Preparation Module and Guidelines’ for Grade I named ‘Vidya Pravesh’ was launched on 29th July, 2021. The goal of Vidya Pravesh programme is to promote school preparedness in all children coming to Grade- I from diverse backgrounds (Balvatika, Anganwadi Centers (AWCs), at home, private play schools etc.), to ensure a smooth transition of children to Grade-I. This Programme is being implemented across the country. From 2022-23 till date, over 4.2 crore students in 8.9 lakh schools have benefitted. The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has undertaken several measures to strengthen Foundational and Preparatory Stage learning in its affiliated schools including adoption of the 5+3+3+4 structure and rollout of Balvatika in 25,000+ schools, mandatory use of Indian languages as medium of instruction from Balvatika to Class II, shift to competency-focussed pedagogy aligned with NCERT Learning Outcomes, mandatory Experiential and Art-Integrated Learning, Holistic Progress Card, Structured Assessment for Analyzing Learning (SAFAL) key-stage diagnostic assessments for Grades 3 and 5, and continued emphasis on play-based, inquiry-based and multilingual learning. The NEP 2020 has emphasized the importance of AI and its role in school curriculum. Under “Curricular Integration of Essential Subjects, Skills, and Capacities” the policy mentions that “4.24. Concerted curricular and pedagogical initiatives, including the introduction of contemporary subjects such as Artificial Intelligence, Design Thinking, Holistic Health, Organic Living, Environmental Education, Global Citizenship Education (GCED), etc. at relevant stages will be undertaken to develop these various importantskills in students at all levels”. The existing NCERT textbooks of Computer Science class XI (Chapter 3) (https://ncert.nic.in/textbook.php?kecs1=ps-11) and Informatics Practices class XI (Chapter 2) (https://ncert.nic.in/textbook.php?keip1=ps-8) talk about AI, IoT and other emerging technologies. CBSE offers Artificial Intelligence as a skill module of classes VI–VIII and as a skill-based subject in classes IX–XII. NCERT has also included a project on Animation and Games in the vocational education textbook for Grade 6 which includes the use of AI tools. Further, the Government of India has launched the SOAR (Skilling for AI Readiness), a national initiative in alignment with the objectives of National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, the National Programme on AI (NPAI) Skilling Framework and Viksit Bharat 2047 vision of digital empowerment and inclusive growth. SOAR is aimed at embedding AI awareness and foundational competencies among school students (Classes 6–12) and building AI literacy among educators. The programme seeks to bridge the digital divide by ensuring equitable access to AI education across geographies, thereby supporting the national agenda of inclusive, future-ready skilling. The SOAR curriculum comprises four progressive National Skills Qualification Framework (NSQF)-aligned modules. For students of classes 6 to 12, three distinct micro-credentials: (i) AI to be Aware, (ii) AI to Acquire, and (iii) AI to Aspire, are offered, each of 15 hours duration, amounting to 45 hours in total. These cover fundamental AI concepts, practical programming, ethical and responsible AI usage, and career opportunities in technology. For educators, one 45-hour module titled AI for Educators provides comprehensive training in AI concepts, pedagogical strategies, and practical classroom application. State/UT Governments have been requested to raise awareness about these courses and encourage schools to implement the SOAR initiative and organize capacity-building workshops for various stakeholders. ****