Intel joins CBSE to empower 1 lakh Indian students in AI

March 6, 2020
New Delhi: Tech giant Intel and Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) on Friday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to digitally empower nealry one lakh students with Artificial Intelligence (AI) integration in India’s education system.

Initiatives include the roll-out of an Artificial Intelligence (AI) curriculum framework for grades VIII, IX and X for 22,000 schools, with the aim to empower one lakh students within 2020, the company said in a statement.

The curriculum is based on ‘Intel AI For Youth’, which is an immersive, hands-on learning programme using experiential methodologies covering both social and technological skills.

“AI has become a strategic imperative for worldwide economic growth and will continue to be one of the most crucial technologies of the future,” said Shweta Khurana, Director-Programmes, Partnerships and Policy Group at Intel India.

“Our collaboration with CBSE is a meaningful step towards enabling our youth to become digitally-empowered and effectively utilize emerging technologies such as AI to solve pressing local and global challenges,” Khurana added.

The MoU also stated that Intel along with CBSE will soon be launching a ‘National AI Olympiad’ to motivate young students to showcase their meaningful social impact solutions as evidence of achievement.

According to the company, it has been estimated that by 2030, AI, in all its applications, is predicted to contribute US$15.7 trillion to the global economy.

India’s own AI strategy identified artificial intelligence as an opportunity and solution provider for inclusive economic growth and social development.

The comprehensive programme called ‘Intel AI For Youth,’ aimed at empowering the young generation to become AI-ready.

Together with CBSE, Chip-making giant has curated an outcome-oriented AI curriculum for students of grade VIII and above.

The curriculum was piloted with eight schools, training youth to create AI projects focused on social impact in 2019, with the aim to empower 1,00,000 students with AI-readiness skills in 2020.

“Our collaboration with Intel has helped us empower the youth with AI skills in an inclusive way and we hope to take this journey ahead in a big way in the coming years,” said Biswajit Saha, Director, Skill Education and Training, CBSE.