AI training for teachers in Uttar Pradesh, India

The Uttar Pradesh (UP)  government has recently  started a project to introduce  an AI curriculum in  schools. In partnership  with the Commonwealth  Educational Media Centre  for Asia (CEMCA) and the  UP government, they are  developing a curriculum  for AI in early education. It  is set in the framework of  India’s “AI for All” initiative, which emphasises inclusion and  empowerment.

UNESCO’s Beijing Consensus on Artificial Intelligence and  Education places the teacher in a central role. Governments  are still considering steps to integrate AI in various stages of  learning, especially in schools.

The northern state of Uttar Pradesh in India is the country’s  most populous. The state runs approximately one million  schools, employing nearly ten million teachers.

Teacher training is the first step in the effort. CEMCA has  identified the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Day of  AI as the primary OER for developing a MOOC for teachers  in the government schools of UP. Entitled Introduction to AI  for Foundational Stage Teachers and Students, this self-paced  MOOC has five modules and can be completed in about  two weeks.

Monica S. Garg, Additional Chief Secretary of the UP  government, leads the initiative. She says, “AI in early education  is an emerging subject globally. Training teachers to impart AI  education is essential in enabling them to teach AI to students in  kindergarten and primary schools.”

Teacher training will be followed by designing an AI curriculum  for all schools in the state, covering children at all levels.