Daybreak - India wants third graders to learn AI. The teachers are not loving it

Episode Date: November 16, 2025

India's largest school board, CBSE, has announced that students as young as Class 3 will begin learning Artificial Intelligence.This isn't the first time. The board rolled out an AI elective for Class 9 in 2019, long before generative AI was a household name. Now, the goal is to make "AI thinking" as fundamental as grammar.We dive into this massive national experiment, exploring what "learning AI" means for a third grader—it’s less about building chatbots and more about "computational thinking." And the real test ahead isn’t the syllabus; it’s whether India can train millions of teachers, many still unsure about using the tools they’re now expected to teach.Tune in.Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.

Hi, this is Rohan Dharma Kumar. If you've heard any of the Ken's podcasts, you've probably heard me, my interruptions, my analogies, and my contrarian takes on most topics. And you might rightly be wondering why am I interrupting this episode too. It's for a special announcement. For the last few months, I and Sita Ramon, Ganesh, my colleague and the Ken's deputy editor, have been working on an ambitious new podcast. It's called Intermission.

We want to tell the secret sauce stories of India's greatest companies. Stories of how they were born, how they fought to survive, how they build their organizations and culture, how they manage to innovate and thrive over decades, and most importantly, how they're poised today. To do that, Sita and I have been reading books, poring over reports, going through financial statements, digging up archives, and talking to dozens of people. And if that wasn't enough, we also decided to throw in video into the mix. Yes, you heard that right. Intermission has also had to find its footing in the world of multi-camera shoots in professional studios, laborious editing, and extensive post-production.

Sita and I are still reeling from the intensity of our first studio recording. Intermission launches on March 23rd. To get alert, as soon as we release our first video. episode, please follow intermission on Spotify and Apple Podcast or subscribe to the Ken's YouTube channel. You can find all of the links at the ken.com slash I am. With that, back to your episode. As the sun begins to set in Hyderabad, an eight-year-old Akshara begins a ritual. It's a ritual that feels distinctly 2025.

She picks up her mother's phone, opens Chad GPT, places it beside her notebook, and starts her homework. She asks the chatbot, what is 360 multiplied by 360? When the answer pops up immediately, she writes it down. Soon she's done with the whole exercise. Akshara can now move on to what she really loves to do,

learning dance routines on YouTube. But today's story isn't about Akshara. It's about how her homework helper isn't just going to stay on her mom's phone. It's going to follow her into the classroom. This October, the Central Board of Secondary Education, or CBC, India's largest school board,

announced that students as young as class 3 will start learning artificial intelligence. This isn't CBSE's first AI experiment. The board rolled out an AI elective for Class 9 back in 2019, long before Chad GPD became a household name. Intel, the tech giant, was in charge of the handbook. Four years later, in 2023, a 15-hour AI module, for class 6 and above was expanded.

The Education Ministry says it's now taught in more than 18,000 schools, and Intel still remains a partner. Now, the government wants AI thinking to be a part of the lessons for young children, right beside their multiplication tables and grammar textbooks. On paper, the plan looks visionary. Prepare tomorrow's workforce by introducing the language of algorithms early. But in practice, it's a major challenge. Most CBSC schools, nearly 30,000 across India, are in a bind.

Finding teachers comfortable with basic technology, let alone artificial intelligence, is not easy. My colleague, the Ken reporter Atul Krishna, spoke to Amita Mullahattal, chairperson for innovations and training at DLF Foundation schools. She told him that senior teachers are hesitant. They're not from a generation that grew up with these tools. Of course, another question comes up. What does learning AI even mean for an 8-year-old? CBCA officials insist that it's not about students building chatbot.

Instead, they learn computational thinking. Basically, how to break down problems step by step. You could even call it thinking like a computer. And now, while India still continues to debate the role of screens in children's education, CBSE has made up its mind. It's all in. It's training teachers, partnering with IBM and buying into a classroom experiment now worth billions. Welcome to Daybreak, a business podcast from the Ken.

I'm your host, Rachel Virgis, and every day of the week, my co-host, Nickta Sharma and I, will bring you one new story that is worth understanding and worth your time. Today is Monday, the 17th of November. Artificial intelligence is not a pilot program anymore. It's a regular feature in classroom schedules across India. When CBSA first introduced it as an elective subject, only 235 schools signed up. Five years later, that number has grown to more than 4,000. 400,000 plus students are now studying AI,

and over 2,000 schools have even extended it to Class 11. But it's worth asking what exactly students are actually learning. After all, this is a generation that learns to swipe before it learns to write. AI already feels familiar to them. Mulavadal said that she sees some parents in the school handing over their smartphones to three-year-olds. Children are swiping and learning. So it kind of looks like the classroom is only catching up to the living room. The rationale behind introducing AI early is obvious.

Children are already growing up surrounded by algorithmic systems, like recommendation engines, filters and voice assistants. So why not teach them to understand the logic behind how they work? The problem is that when most people hear AI education, they imagine little kids building chat pods or prompting chat GPT. But that's not what's happening here. You see, in India's case, the plan to teach AI to third graders is more symbolic than technical. For example, take CBSE's upcoming framework. It doesn't really include neural networks or generative models.

Instead, it's all about computational thinking. So what's the difference? Let me explain. Now, using AI is just asking chat GPT, what should cars do when the light turns red? And you get the answer, stop. Computational thinking, on the other hand, is writing the rulebook by yourself.

For the same question, the student would say, if the light is red, stop. If the light is green, go. If the light is yellow, slow down. It's simple, but that's the point. The plan is to teach kids how computers think. They will get used to breaking down everyday decisions into clear logical instructions, the same building blocks that make up coding or algorithms.

For Akshara, that might mean a different kind of math problem. Instead of multiplying 9 by numbers 1 to 10, the textbook might frame it like this. A robot found a pattern while doing this task. Can you find it too? So while the exercise stays the same, the language changes to mimic algorithmic logic. CBCC says the goal is to nurture problem-solving skills, not to produce coders. In fact, the AI in Class 3 won't involve any actual technology. No chatbots, no screens, no coding.

At least for now. A Delhi school principal who attended the October meeting explained that AI is not being introduced as a separate subject. It's going to be integrated into math and science. To some educators, that's a relief. Studies across OECD or Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development countries have found little link between classroom technology and learning outcomes. UnESCO has even recommended smartphone bans. But some see this move as a hedging, an admission that CBSE wants to appear modern but without tackling the deeper challenge, which is prepared. preparing teachers to teach concepts they don't yet understand.

And that's where the vision begins to lose its clarity. Because for all the talk of machine intelligence, India's classrooms still rely on human intelligence. And not all of these humans are ready for the shift. More on this in the next segment. The AI initiative is already drawing criticism. Critics say that it risks overcrowding an already crammed syllabus. Guru Murthy Kashinatan of IT for change.

and education non-profit, said that everyone wants everything to be taught in schools. But if every value gets stuffed in, he says there will be no time for teaching. You see, at higher levels, AI education gets more advanced, at least on paper. For instance, the class 9 to 12 curriculum includes Python programming and projects like building chatbots using the Gemini API. Still, schools haven't received any clear guidance on whether to use tools like chat GPD. And so, like Sudha Acharya, the principal of Delhi's ITL public school says, they've been leaving decisions to the computer science teachers. Kashi-Natan also told

Atul that the focus is misplaced. He worries that students are being taught to consume AI, not to critique or build it. And here lies the biggest challenge. Before students can learn AI, teachers must learn at first. A gallop survey in the US found that teachers who have used AI even once, would twice as likely to support it. In India, the gap is wider. Many teachers still feel intimidated by new tools. Mulavadal said that senior teachers are not skillful with technology, so they feel hesitant. Many started their careers when PowerPoint was considered cutting edge.

Now, they're expected to explain concepts like prompt engineering. Of course, CBSA is aware of this. At the class three announcement, Education Secretary Sanjerk was, Omar said training 1 crore teachers would be the real priority. But you see, training fatigue is widespread. Teachers must complete 50 hours of mandatory workshops every year. The topics cover everything from exam protocols to substance abuse awareness. Subi Shukla, an education consultant, said that while there's a lot of training, most of it is bad.

Now, IBM has been conducting AI training since 2019. It began with 1,000 teachers and later expanded to 10,000 master trainers. This September, it held AI bootcams for teachers new to the topic. They were introduced to tools like MIT App Inventor, an app-building platform and AI storytelling apps. But many who attended found these sessions to be superficial. They felt like the focus was more on using these apps rather than integrating AI meaningfully into lessons. Kashinatan believes the approach needs to shift. He explained that these tools are introduced as finished products.

The teachers have to learn them instead of using them to enhance what they already do. So when his team piloted AI-based software to help teachers assess students' language skills, the response was more positive because the tool felt more useful, not imposed. So for now, CBSE's AI rollout depends on the same teachers who are unsure. sure about it. Principal Acharya said that teachers have to update themselves. There is no other way. But updates take time and patience. And both are in short supply in a system trying to jump from chalkboards to chat pods overnight. For now, while Akshara's classroom may talk about AI, her living room is practicing it. She's going to keep asking chat GPT her math questions.

Meanwhile, her teachers will figure out what an algorithm means. The future is already. in India's school. It just isn't done training yet. Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of the Ken, India's first subscriber-focused business news platform. What you're listening to is just a small sample of our subscriber-only offerings. A full subscription offers daily long-form feature stories, newsletters and a whole bunch of premium podcasts. To subscribe, head to the ken.com and click on the red subscribe button on the top of the Ken website. Today's episode was hosted and produced by my colleague, Rachel Virgis and edited by Rajiv Sien.