The Assam Government, through Samagra Shiksha, Assam, has signed six MoU with technology, education and social-sector organisations to integrate AI, digital technology and innovation into school education. 

The initiative aims to build an inclusive, learner-centric and future-ready education system across the State.

Six Partnerships and Their Focus

• Google AI will support teachers through AI-powered educational tools, digital skills and professional development, helping teachers use technology more effectively in classrooms.
• IIT Madras and Bodhan Artificial Intelligence will build AI proficiency among teachers, with around one lakh teachers of Grades 6–12 proposed to be trained by May 2027.
• Language and Early Education Solutions and Wadhwani AI will use AI for assessing students’ reading fluency, helping identify learning gaps and strengthen foundational literacy.
• Educate Girls will support the identification, enrolment and retention of out-of-school adolescents, particularly girls, thereby addressing educational exclusion.
• EkStep and AXL will promote personalised, artificial intelligence-assisted learning in foundational literacy and numeracy.
• Canva Education will strengthen digital literacy, creativity, design thinking and innovation among teachers and students.

Institutional and Policy Context

• The initiative is spearheaded by Samagra Shiksha, Assam, under the State’s school education system.
• It aligns with the NEP 2020, which emphasises technology-enabled learning, teacher capacity building, foundational literacy and numeracy, multilingual education and personalised learning.
• The initiative is also relevant to the National Initiative for Proficiency in Reading with Understanding and Numeracy.

Why is it Important?

• AI can help teachers, rather than replace them, by assisting with lesson planning, assessment and preparation of learning materials.
• Personalised learning can allow students with different learning levels to receive appropriate content and practice.
• AI-based assessment can identify learning gaps earlier and enable targeted interventions.
• The focus on girls and out-of-school adolescents gives the initiative an important social-justice dimension by using technology to improve educational access and retention.

Exam Hook – Prelims

Consider the following statements regarding Assam’s Artificial Intelligence initiative in school education:

1. The initiative includes training teachers in the use of Artificial Intelligence.
2. It includes Artificial Intelligence-based assessment of students’ reading fluency.
3. It focuses exclusively on higher education and does not cover school education.
4. It includes measures for personalised foundational literacy and numeracy.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

Answer: 1, 2 and 4 only.

One-line wrap: Assam’s six-way partnership seeks to make Artificial Intelligence a tool for better teachers, personalised learning and more inclusive school education.