Can generative AI help bridge learning gaps in Indian schools?

In a classroom in the southern Indian city of Bengaluru, half a dozen young students sit at a desk, listening intently to a small black device as a woman's voice calls out simple sentences in English, that they then repeat carefully. "It is a new way of learning - the technology is novel for the kids, and they also find it entertaining," said Lingesh, who has taught English in the school for two years, and has used the AI-enabled system, Tara, for the past year in his classes. From helping teach English, to assisting teachers with lesson plans, to identifying pupils at risk of dropping out, AI tools are helping bridge learning gaps that widened in schools during the COVID-19 pandemic, tech and education experts said. "The majority of schools in India don't have the resources for high-tech solutions, and parents cannot afford additional tutoring support," said Gowri Mahesh, a co-founder at Learning Matters, the edtech firm in Bengaluru that built Tara, which is used in about 200 schools in three Indian states. "Even in small village schools, teachers are trying their best to incorporate technology, but they don't have the resources," said Kalika Bali, principal researcher at Microsoft Research India, who was named among the 100 most influential people in AI by Time magazine this year.