CBSE, IBM introduces AI curriculum in 200 schools

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) on Friday announced that the integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the high school curriculum for Grade XI and XII for the current academic year (2020 – 2021) has been developed in collaboration with IBM.

The curriculum is part of CBSE’s Social Empowerment through Work Education and Action (SEWA) program. The initiative is aimed at helping students to learn AI skills for social good.

The AI curriculum will be introduced in approximately 200 schools across 13 States in India including Delhi-NCR, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Orissa, Kerala, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Punjab.

The curriculum is built around a framework focused on base strands of knowledge (basics, history, applications), skills (design thinking, computational thinking, data fluency, critical thinking) and values (ethical decision making, bias) in AI.

IBM has co-developed the curriculum with Australia’s Macquarie University and Indian implementation partners – Learning Links Foundation and 1M1B to meet CBSE requirements.

“AI will certainly become all-pervasive in our lives in coming years and it is important to inculcate the necessary skills & knowledge right from high school level,” said Manoj Ahuja, Chairperson, CBSE.

“The unique proposition of the IBM AI curriculum is that it allows Grade XI & XII students from all streams, in addition to Computer Science, to build the foundation for themselves to be AI ready,” he said.

The IBM AI Curriculum was launched in collaboration with CBSE in September 2019. As part of this curriculum, AI skill training was provided to 5,000 Grade XI students and 1,000 teachers across India.

A series of Principal Orientation and Teacher Training sessions were then conducted between September 2019 and June 2020.

Sandip Patel, General Manager, IBM India/South Asia said: “The question on the minds of educators and economists alike is how will technology impact jobs moving forward and how can we prepare our students to succeed in an increasingly automated, AI-driven world. As they think through designing innovative solution to address key problems, we also get them deliberate about the ethical implications of the technology.”