Archive · 1 Sep 2026
India’s AI Ambition Faces Questions About School Foundations
Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced plans to provide free online coaching and teach artificial intelligence to one crore young people.
These plans could help students prepare for exams and future jobs.
But many children in India still do not have schools with safe buildings, teachers, electricity or toilets.
In one Rajasthan village, children studied in a cowshed for almost a year.
A school roof collapse in Rajasthan also killed seven students and injured others.
The article says online learning only works when children have devices, electricity, internet access and a quiet place to study.
It also says students need strong reading, mathematics and problem-solving skills before advanced technology can help them.
India already has a basic AI-literacy programme, but the details of the larger AI-training plan are not yet clear.
The main message is that India needs both advanced technology education and properly functioning schools.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced free online exam coaching and training for one crore young Indians in artificial intelligence.
Students in several states have protested for teachers, safe buildings, electricity, water, toilets, roads and functioning classrooms.
A July 2025 school-roof collapse in Rajasthan killed seven students and injured others, prompting a safety audit.
In Rajasthan’s Rampura-Kanwarpura village, 18 children reportedly studied in a cowshed for almost a year before a new building was promised.
The article argues that AI ambitions require stronger basic education, including literacy, numeracy, reasoning, teachers and reliable school infrastructure.
- Who
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India’s young people and schoolchildren in several Indian states are central to the article.
- What
- The article examines India’s plans for free online exam coaching and large-scale AI training alongside serious weaknesses in school infrastructure and foundational learning.
- When
- The AI initiatives were announced in an Independence Day address; the school incidents and data cited mainly concern 2025 and the period from 2014 to 2024.
- Where
- India, particularly Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra; one highlighted school is in Rajasthan’s Jhalawar district.
- Why
- The article argues that AI training and online education require safe schools, reliable infrastructure, effective teachers and strong basic skills.
Digital Ambition
Foundational Reform
What should India prioritize?
Digital Ambition
Expanding free online coaching and AI training could widen access to competitive-exam preparation and prepare young people for an economy where AI is increasingly important.
Foundational Reform
Digital programmes cannot reach their potential while children lack safe classrooms, teachers, electricity, connectivity and basic learning skills.
What should AI training mean?
Digital Ambition
The announced target of training one crore young Indians signals a broad national push toward AI capability.
Foundational Reform
The government has not yet clarified eligibility, curriculum, assessment or whether the programme will provide basic AI literacy or job-oriented technical skills.
How should technological strength be built?
Digital Ambition
India can build on institutions such as the Indian Institutes of Technology and the Indian Institute of Science, which have produced highly trained talent.
Foundational Reform
The article argues that elite institutions alone are insufficient and that broad-based school education is necessary for a durable technological and AI ecosystem.
- AI training target
- One crore young Indians over the next year
- Other announced initiative
- Free online coaching for competitive examinations
- Rajasthan school collapse
- A July 2025 roof collapse killed seven students and injured others
- Rampura-Kanwarpura school
- Eighteen children reportedly attended classes in a cowshed for almost a year
- Foundational learning
- The share of Class 3 children able to solve at least a basic subtraction problem rose from 25.4% in 2014 to 33.7% in 2024, according to data cited by NITI Aayog
- Existing AI programme
- YUVA AI for ALL is described as a foundational AI-literacy programme
- School needs identified
- Students have demanded teachers, roads, electricity, drinking water, toilets, fans and safe classrooms