AI enabled NEP

1. How India is integrating AI in the
New Education Policy

2. • The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 is the
first omnibus policy after 1986. The importance
given to education technology in the NEP is
welcome. It has to contend with multiple crises in
the system. There are reports that primary
schools record poor literacy and numeracy
outcomes and, dropout in middle and secondary
schools are significant.
• Our schools need a paradigm shift from low level
of aspiration to have higher aspirations for all
children indiscriminately. Translating this into
reality invites stakeholders, teachers, education
administrators, policy makers and academic
authorities at national and state level to come
together to give children the best chance to
succeed and contribute to nation building.

3. • Section 23 of the NEP titled 'Technology Use
and Integration' puts forth a vision for the role
technology will play in a new and improved
education sector. It is a positive sign that
India's policymakers are finally waking up to
technology's disruptive implications for
education. Realizing the potential of
technology in education emphasizes securing
digital infrastructure, developing digital skills,
and promoting digital safety. It desires
delegation of authority and active role of
school management committees also.

4. • "ICT for education and 'ICT education' are two
different areas and the former needs more
emphasis in school education.
• Similarly, "Artificial Intelligence (AI) for
education" and "AI education" may be elided, but
in reality, the two are separate areas requiring
different expertise and policy, and the distinction
should be duly recognized.
• It is pertinent to mention that (AI) is poised to
become the next big information revolution. As
we move into an increasingly data-driven world,
there is a critical need to build an AI-ready
workforce.

5. • We need to give children, adolescents and
youth the opportunity to learn and
understand AI-based concepts and
technologies and be connected with the
careers of tomorrow.
• They will need to be digitally confident and
global in their outlook, to be great problem
solvers, collaborators, and communicators.
• They must be resilient enough to view hurdles
or problems as learning opportunities. AI
provides a context to begin developing those
skills.

6. • Education officers and managers need to be
oriented by the leadership academies at national
and state level with an aim to utilize their
capacities optimally towards a supportive
leadership role to diminish inequality of
resources.
• It is the pivotal responsibility of apex academic
authorities of Centre and state to consider revisit
of teacher education curriculum to make it ICT
enabled, prepare teachers through teacher
education institutions, extend in-service training
to serving teachers, orient and expose school
management committees for a conducive ICT
aided schooling environment.

7. • Children are our legacy. It is desired that
they should be well equipped for the
challenges of 21st century with the
required skill set in a fast-changing world.
• In other words, spark imagination in
children to explore, create and imagine
to make the planet perpetual and to
create a more sustainable world.

8. • With over 250 million school-going children in the
country, and 1.5 million schools, facilitating such
deep-rooted and far-reaching change is a tall
order.
• It requires more than just policy-change, such as
serious infrastructure and facilitation for NEP
2020 to make good on its potential.
• There will be the need for networked schools,
vibrant communication flows and a
reconsideration of the medium of instruction.

9. • The obvious answer to the question this
problem raises is technology. While
technology is being cited as the magic wand
that can solve all problems, and edtech
solutions flooding the market; a deeper look
needs to be taken at the problems NEP 2020
seeks to solve.

10. • Application-based learning means that the method of
assessment needs to change.
• Can exams continue to test a student’s memory by
forcing them to regurgitate everything they have
learned in an entire year during a 3-hour-long paper?
• Internships mean that schools need to be in touch with
companies that have environments conducive to young
learners.
• Technology-enabled learning has to mean more than
just a computer education.
• It must harness the potential of multi-media learning,
access to academic content and thought leadership
within days of it being published, and the ability to
connect with mentors and guides.
• If technology is not able to support this, it remains
another feeble attempt at progress that does not
deliver on its promises.

11. • Another aspect of NEP 2020 is that it examines
how each stage of education affects the next one.
• This means that the journey from primary to
higher education needs to be unified in order for
a student to continue to receive support from
their previous institution, while mapping out an
educational journey that leads to better
employment prospects or entrepreneurship.
• Builders of technology need to rise to the
occasion, offering a unified platform that sees all
the stakeholders as connected, and gives them a
forum for the exchange of knowledge and ideas
in order to move in the direction of a common
goal.

12. Highlights
• New Education Policy 2020 highlights the importance
of artificial intelligence and integrates AI education at
all levels.
• The New Education Policy (NEP) has acknowledged, in
no uncertain terms, the importance of artificial
intelligence and AI education in today’s time.
• To align India’s curriculum to the 21st century and to
prepare the students for the AI economy, the policy
lays profound emphasis on the need to impart the
necessary technical knowledge at all levels of
education.

13. • School children will be exposed to crucial skills such as
digital literacy, coding and computational thinking from a
young age, through the teaching of contemporary subjects
such as Artificial Intelligence and Design Thinking.
• Further, topics such as artificial intelligence, 3-D machining,
big data analysis and machine learning will be integrated
with the undergraduate education to train industry-ready
professionals.
• All universities will offer doctoral and Masters programmes
in core areas such as Machine Learning.
• In addition, colleges may also offer targeted training in low-
expertise tasks for supporting the AI value chain such as
data annotation, image classification, and speech
transcription.

14. • "These are all part of developing 21st-century
skills because education embeds these kinds
of things to qualify the youngster with respect
to what is needed in the 21st century which is
communication, creativity, problem-solving
and things of that type," Dr Kasturirangan,
Chairman of the NEP drafting committee, told
PTI.

15. • Further, to make India a leading knowledge hub of
disruptive technologies, the National Research Foundation
(NRF) will promote high-quality research in the realm of
science and technology.
• Given the rising applicability and falling costs of AI-based
predictions, special focus has been given to promoting
research in this domain.
• A three-pronged approach has been laid out to channel the
research in AI, i.e. (a) advancing core AI research, (b)
developing and deploying application-based research, and
(c) establishing international research efforts to address
global challenges in areas such as healthcare, agriculture,
and climate change using AI.

16. • The policy also envisions the use of AI-powered
solutions for the attainment of its goals of a
multilingual as well as holistic education.
• The efforts of promoting multilingualism among
the school students will be interlocked with
efforts to enhance Natural Language Processing
capabilities for India’s diverse languages.
• Additionally, AI will be used to track and record
the life skills training of a child, with the aim to
prepare a holistic report card.

17. • Sethuraman T. A., Co-founder of AI-based EdTech
organisation Jungroo Learning, told INDIAai, “The move
from marks-focussed reporting to skills-focused reporting is
a welcome move.
• We at Jungroo have always felt that we should move from
marks-based reporting to understanding more about the
student. The move from the focus on summative-based
assessments to formative assessments is another great
aspect that I am looking forward to.
• I believe AI can also play a crucial role here. We should use
smart use of technologies such as AI in helping the
stakeholders of the system by reducing their workload and
making life easier by enabling them to focus on their core
skills.”

18. • In line with the national vision of Digital India,
the policy has highlighted the symbiotic
relationship between technology and
education.
• The transformational journey of India will be
catalysed through technological education and
research, as provided for in the NEP; and
advanced tech-driven solutions will transform
the educational processes.

19. • Commenting on the developments, Saraswathy
Ramamoorthy, Co-founder and CMO of Learning Matters
told INDIAai, “AI is going to play a critical role in education,
and the sooner this is recognised, and AI-based efforts are
encouraged, the better for our country.
• Learning Matters specifically is using AI to improve student
learning outcomes and enhance teacher competency.
• There is going to be a boom in AI and IoT adoption globally,
across industries and domains, sparked by COVID.” She
added, “We need a workforce that has been trained in AI
and related technologies.
• So, training in AI and related technologies must start early
for students to later become the workforce that is able to
successfully create, invent, and improve.”

20. • The policy also aims to use education as a
means to sensitise students to the issues and
ethics surrounding AI.
• It recognises that holistic education of AI-
based technologies can not be complete
without raising awareness of issues such as
data protection and privacy, and ethical
concerns such as data bias.