On February 17, 2026, the Indian Ministry of Education hosted a session titled “Pushing the Frontier of AI in India” at the India AI Impact Summit 2026, held at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi. Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan confirmed the government’s transition from policy design to implementation at scale, centering the session on teacher training, curriculum integration, the establishment of Centres of Excellence, and collaboration with industry and startups. The session confirmed that a Centre of Excellence in AI for Education has been established at IIT Madras. A memorandum of understanding between the Centre for Policy Research and Governance (CPRG) and the Inter University Centre for Teacher Education was signed at the summit to strengthen AI literacy in teacher preparation programmes. The session highlighted that “AI in education and education in AI” are now concurrent implementation priorities rather than sequential planning stages.
Who it affects: The roadmap addresses teachers across government schools who will receive training before the 2026-27 curriculum rollout, student teacher trainees in university education programmes covered by the new MoU, and school administrators and policymakers responsible for implementation. The IIT Madras CoE primarily serves higher education and research, with downstream effects on curriculum design.
What is notably missing: No confirmed timeline for completing teacher training before the 2026-27 academic year begins. The MoU is between two research and policy bodies, not a direct teacher-training mandate for universities. No standardised assessment for teacher AI readiness is publicly confirmed. The summit session did not clarify the equity gap for rural and under-resourced schools lacking digital infrastructure to implement the practical components of the AI curriculum.