Parliament Question: Free AI courses on SWAYAM

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF HIGHER EDUCATION RAJYA SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO-2132 ANSWERED ON-11/03/2026 Free AI courses on SWAYAM 2132 Shri Rajinder Gupta: Will the Minister of EDUCATION be pleased to state: (a) whether Government is offering free Artificial Intelligence courses on the SWAYAM platform to equip students and professionals with foundational AI skills as part of the National Education Policy's digital education push; (b) if so, the details thereof; (c) if not, the reasons therefor; (d) the challenges witnessed in this respect; and (e) the proposed measures to be taken for expanding the offerings in this regard? ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION (DR. SUKANTA MAJUMDAR) (a) to (e): The Government of India has framed the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 with an aim to promote holistic, multidisciplinary, flexible and student-centric education. NEP 2020 promotes integration of digital technology in learning processes and encourages Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) to offer programmes in core areas such as Machine Learning as well as multidisciplinary fields and professional areas like healthcare, agriculture, and law via platforms, such as SWAYAM. Department of Higher Education is implementing the National Mission on Education through Information and Communication Technology (NMEICT) in alignment with the vision of NEP 2020. The scheme aims to leverage the potential of ICT, in all processes of education. Under the NMEICT scheme Study Webs of Active Learning for Young Aspiring Minds (SWAYAM) platform hosts content curated by premier institutions and is available free of cost with the approach of “Anyone, Anywhere, Anytime” Learning. As on date, more than 4400 unique courses have been offered through SWAYAM. These courses have witnessed cumulative enrolments of more than 6 Crores. Further, with an objective of improving accessibility to AI knowledge and Skills, the SWAYAM platform has delivered more than 100 AI-related courses, curated by premier institutions such as the IITs, IISc among others. These courses have witnessed more than 50 lakh enrolments.To enhance the skills of the learners, the Ministry of Education in collaboration with eminent Industry Partners, has also launched the SWAYAM Plus platform in February 2024. The platform offers more than 500 employability-focused courses. These courses have been curated from more than 80 industry partners across 15 sectors, including Information Technology, Artificial Intelligence, Semiconductor Manufacturing, BFSI, Healthcare, and Advanced Manufacturing etc. More than 5 lakh learners have enrolled on SWAYAM Plus platform for their Skill augmentation. Additionally, the ‘AI for All’ courses have been developed by experts from the IIT Madras for various domains such as biology, chemistry, accounting etc. ******