Bodhan AI, a non-profit organisation under the Education Ministry, to build an open-source “Bharat EduAI Stack” to introduce Artificial Intelligence applications across all levels of education. | Photo credits: bodhan.ai
The Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has stressed the great importance of “embedding AI in education to empower students and support teachers”. He was addressing the inaugural session of the Bharat Bodhan AI Conclave on Thursday (February 12, 2026), an event that precedes the India AI Impact Summit.
Mr. Pradhan also launched Bodhan AI, which has been established as a non-profit organisation under the Education Ministry to build an open-source “Bharat EduAI Stack” to introduce Artificial Intelligence applications across all levels of education, from kindergarten to research.
Speaking on the first day of the Conclave in New Delhi, the Education Minister said he was confident that the two-day event “will pave the way for enhancing India’s AI capacity, establishing India’s leadership in AI, building a DPI in education, and ensuring AI For All”.
Inclusive by design
The Education Minister said that India’s AI will be “inclusive by design, interoperable by architecture, and sovereign by capability”. He called on stakeholders to build “scalable, responsible, ethical and India-centric sovereign AI models to transform education and realise the goal of Viksit Bharat”.
The inaugural session of the Bharat Bodhan AI Conclave also saw a presentation by IIT Madras Associate Professor Mitesh Khapra, who introduced Bodhan AI, developed by the AI Centre of Excellence for Education at IIT Madras. Mr. Khapra also outlined the plans to build the Bharat EduAI Stack as a digital public infrastructure.
Introducing Bodhan AI, IIT Madras Director V Kamakoti said that Bodhan AI would aid the government in making education equitable, of high quality, affordable, and easily accessible. He noted that interventions like personalising the learning experience via AI tutors, using AI to train and assist teachers, and finding ways of harnessing AI to address parental concerns about their children’s growth could emerge as important ways of achieving these goals.
Understanding every child
“It can assist teachers in understanding every child… help communicate with parents about skills and potential career pathways,” Mr. Kamakoti said, adding that there were also several applications for institutional administration, through which vast amounts of data points can be collected about students and their learning patterns that can help inform policies and provide direction on improving the quality of education.
On Thursday, the Conclave also saw IIT Bombay and Columbia University exchange an MoU to set up a Centre of AI for manufacturing at IIT Bombay, the launch of IIM Lucknow’s AI programme, institutional collaborations between the IIM in Jammu and AIT in Bangkok, and the launch of IIM Ranchi’s Teaching with AI initiative.
The Conclave, over the next two days, will “engage solutions across four priority verticals”, a government statement said, adding that these will be AI for School Education, AI for Higher Education, AI for Skilling and Workforce Readiness, and AI Research and Deep Technology.
Published – February 12, 2026 09:20 pm IST
