BJP MLA writes to CM Adityanath, seeks AI education for school children in UP

Lucknow, Dec 11 (PTI) BJP MLA Rajeshwar Singh has sought initiation of artificial intelligence (AI) education for school-going children in Uttar Pradesh apart from creation of a state-level commission to equip students for the competitive world and ensure equal opportunities for all.

The legislator from the Sarojini Nagar seat in Lucknow has suggested an eight-point plan of action in a letter to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Thursday.

"Today's era belongs to artificial intelligence, ”a transformation that is reshaping humanity itself. It is now the time for Uttar Pradesh to lead India's transition from Digital Bharat to AI Bharat," Singh, a former ED officer and a Supreme Court lawyer, wrote in his five-page letter.

As part of the proposed framework, he said, a task force could be formed in the state with experts from IIT Kanpur, IIIT Lucknow, NCERT and NITI Aayog, which can frame a "phased" action plan within six months.

A pilot project for about 200 schools located in the urban, rural and minority population areas can be initiated and the school education curriculum can be integrated with logic, patterns and digital behaviour apart from subjects such as coding, robotics, data fundamentals, machine learning and AI ethics, he said.

Singh reasoned that such an education will help develop analytical assessment and reasoning abilities in the children and develop capabilities in them to solve real-life problems.

The commission will work to coordinate across education, industry, research, cybersecurity, ethics, and employment sectors, and create a unified policy framework for AI education, industry and ethical AI governance, he stated.

The MLA said the government could earmark an estimated Rs 450 crore worth budget for a time period of over five years which will help train students and teachers, and create resource centres in each of the 75 districts of the state by 2030.

"UP has been in a pioneering position with the creation of digital classrooms, smart panels and digital empowerment centres under the leadership of the CM. The need now is to send this AI wave to the schools so that every child is AI-ready and becomes a creator of Viksit Bharat 2047," he said. PTI NES KVK KVK