CBSE

In Jan 2019, The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) announced (check the circular) the introduction of Artificial Intelligence (AI) as an elective for students in classes 9 to 12. Implementation began from academic session starting April 2019. AI is not replacing any other subject (ex. IT) nor will it be a part of any existing subject. It is offered as a separate optional subject (sixth subject) from class 9 onward.

Offered to: According to CBSE, Class VIII is considered an ideal level to introduce school students to AI. For class 8 students, schools are encouraged to start a module on AI learning (around 12 hours) as a certificate course . AI will become a regular subject class 9 onward.

Skill subject: CBSE offers class 10 students the choice to opt for a sixth Skill paper along with the existing five compulsory papers.

Curriculum: The curriculum for the subject is now being developed from scratch by a team from IBM India along with members of its global team and other subject experts. CBSE’s idea of introducing Artificial Intelligence in the course syllabus was directed by from NITI Aayog, the policy think tank of the government. It was decided that the subject would be introduced in classes 8, 9 and 10 as a skill subject.

Check out the course outline i.e. syllabus here

On Sept 2019, CBSE declared a curriculum (check announcement here). This was developed in association with Intel AI4Youth Program

Eligibility: Any school with 20 computers in its computer lab can apply to offer AI as a subject to their students. Along with the computers, the schools must also have minimum internet bandwidth of 50 mbps. Schools would need to train their teachers in order to effectively implement the curriculum and deliver the desired learning outcomes. CBSE will also provide training to teachers from schools which opt to offer AI.

Assessment: There will be no assessment for AI for class 8 students. In case of class 9, the assessment will be same as other skill subjects.

Since September 2019, IBM has launched a pilot project in over 1000 schools based in Delhi, Bengaluru, Bhubaneswar, Kolkata, Chennai and Hyderabad to test the syllabus. The performance of the students will be jointly evaluated with the CBSE team for the new syllabus