Dharmendra Pradhan chairs AI-in-education roundtable at IIT Delhi; Bharat Bodhan AI Conclave from today
Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Wednesday chaired a roundtable with founders of 10 new-age Indian startups using Artificial Intelligence (AI) in education at IIT Delhi, as part of the Ministry of Education’s push to integrate AI into the learning ecosystem.
The event was attended by Minister of State for Education and Development of North Eastern Region Sukanta Majumdar and Minister of State for Education and Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (Independent Charge) Jayant Chaudhary.
The roundtable brought together policymakers, academic leaders and technology entrepreneurs to discuss leveraging AI to transform India’s education system in line with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. It forms part of a series of initiatives by the ministry to harness AI’s potential in education.
Participating startups — Arivihan, Fermi AI, Khare.AI, Seekho, SpeakX, SuperKalam, SuperNova, Vedantu, ConveGenius and Virohan — showcased AI-first solutions across K-12 learning, test preparation, upskilling, language learning and skill education, with a focus on underserved students.
The interaction was organised as a precursor to the upcoming India AI Impact Summit. The ministry said insights from the roundtable would inform policy and ecosystem discussions at the summit, particularly around responsible AI adoption, safeguards and scaling impact across sectors including education.
The discussions come just ahead of the two-day Bharat Bodhan AI Conclave, which begins today at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi. The conclave will bring together senior policymakers from the Centre and states, researchers, academic institutions and industry leaders to deliberate on AI’s strategic role in transforming India’s education ecosystem, with an emphasis on innovation, scalable adoption and national capacity building.
Pradhan said he was encouraged to engage with home-grown founders building indigenous “AI-powered solutions from India to the world,” particularly to redefine the educational landscape. He noted that many of the founders came from middle-class and tier-III city backgrounds, and said their India-centric solutions inspired confidence.
The minister emphasised that technology is a powerful instrument of empowerment and inclusion and underscored the central role of AI in advancing the vision of Viksit Bharat @ 2047. He urged entrepreneurs to build solutions aligned with Indian values, languages and contexts while maintaining global relevance, and assured government support for strengthening digital public infrastructure in education.
Ashutosh Sharma, Head of Investments and M&A for India and Southeast Asia at Prosus, highlighted the need to view education technology as a national capability rather than a short-term commercial opportunity. He said AI marked a historic inflection point that could enable quality learning to reach every learner, regardless of geography or income.
