NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 18: Artificial intelligence is increasingly being viewed as a tool that could transform education in India, but its benefits will depend on the development of strong public digital infrastructure that can support students, teachers and institutions across languages and regions.
The idea of building “public AI rails” for education centres on creating shared infrastructure that private companies, schools and educational platforms can use to develop AI-powered services. Such infrastructure could include Indian-language models, speech-recognition systems, educational datasets, digital credentials and interoperable standards.
Education presents a particularly important opportunity because India’s classrooms operate across numerous languages, curricula and socio-economic conditions. AI systems trained primarily on global or urban contexts may not adequately address the needs of students in government schools or learners using regional languages. Public infrastructure could help make AI tools more accessible and adaptable to these diverse requirements.
AI can potentially support personalised learning by identifying areas where students struggle and providing explanations suited to their level. It could also assist teachers with lesson preparation, assessments, translation and administrative work. In higher education, AI-based systems could help students navigate admissions, scholarships, examinations and other institutional processes.
However, building public AI infrastructure also raises questions about privacy, data governance, accuracy and accountability. Educational data involving children and students would require strong safeguards, while AI-generated educational content would need appropriate human oversight.
A public-rail approach could allow private developers to compete on applications and user experience while relying on common infrastructure underneath. The broader objective would be to ensure that AI-driven education does not remain limited to students with access to expensive private services, but becomes available across India’s diverse educational ecosystem.