NEW DELHI: Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Wednesday said that only 12% to 15% of school students in India have access to computer systems, compared to nearly 80% in developed countries, posing a major challenge in restricting children’s access to social media. He noted that limiting phone usage becomes difficult in such a scenario.
Speaking after launching the CBSE curriculum on Computational Thinking (CT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) for students of Classes III to VIII at Vigyan Bhawan, Pradhan said some countries and a few Indian states have already introduced restrictions on social media usage among school students.
“Our academic surveys have revealed that around 60% to 70% of school premises in our country have internet access, and smartphones are widely used. Mobiles serve both academic and social media purposes in India. So how do we segregate this usage?” he said, adding that future technological innovations may help address the issue. The Minister also stressed the need to move away from rote memorisation towards critical thinking in the education system.
Pradhan further called upon the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) to ensure that the newly released CBSE curriculum, currently available in English, is translated into all Indian languages. “NCERT needs to coordinate with SCERTs across states to ensure that the curriculum is made available in the mother tongue at the earliest,” he said.
Sanjay Kumar, Secretary of the Department of School Education and Literacy, said India has joined a select group of nations—including China, Singapore, Finland, Estonia, and the United States—that have introduced AI in education.
CBSE Chairperson Rahul Singh said, “This is a data-driven and algorithm-driven world. We are preparing to demystify Artificial Intelligence.” He added that the academic committee met nine times over three months to finalise the curriculum. The curriculum will be extended to Classes IX and X next year, and later to Classes XI and XII.