From China's Playbook - Accelerating India's Adoption of Generative AI in Education

24 Jul

A few weeks ago, China's Ministry of Education, overseeing the world's most extensive state-run education system, made a few bold bets aimed at developing an AI-native, tech-literate population that will eventually help position China as a world leader in the technology. This warrants a deeper study. China has a pro-innovation stance to technology governance marked by an incremental, experimental approach balancing business needs with national strategic goals, unlike other government frameworks that tend to be more cautious and risk-averse. Given the potential omnipresence of AI in all aspects of our lives, India can draw from China's model for its skill development goals.

China’s Guidelines

Notably, starting September 2025, AI education has been made mandatory for both primary and secondary school students in China. In sharp contrast to UNESCO's recommendation that 13 be the age limit for the use of AI in education, China envisages a more foundational exposure to AI starting at six years of age and prioritises AI literacy alongside reading, writing and mathematics skills for its population. They actively encourage the use of AI and these ‘guidelines’ issued in mid-May go beyond merely addressing student privacy concerns or safeguarding academic integrity. These are not legally binding regulations, and their value is in signalling the Ministry's thinking about best practices to encourage bottom-up experimentation that will then lay the groundwork for any future policy.

Importantly, the guidelines envisage different age-appropriate learning outcomes for students. These span focus areas such as technical knowledge, practical skills, critical thinking, and ethical awareness that stakeholders — teachers, students, school administrators, and social enterprises — can contribute to.

Apart from the curriculum update needed to make room for this, the guidelines also detail multiple use cases where the deployment of AI helps in more effective learning outcomes or in reducing the teachers’ and school managements’ administrative burden. The documents also envision active engagement with professionals from research institutions and high-tech enterprises to facilitate as part-time teachers and sensitise stakeholders to the challenge digital divide may pose to the policy’s effective rollout and the pitfalls of using AI as a "one size fits all" solution.

With these guidelines, China has become the first country in the world to systematically endorse AI adoption at all levels of its education system. This is the outcome of a broader techno-optimistic political system. The 'Next Generation AI Development Plan', initiated in 2017, aims to position China as a global AI innovation centre. The Xi Jinping administration has been doubling down on emerging and high-tech sectors, termed the 'New Quality Productive Forces', which includes AI. At a time of high unemployment - 17% youth unemployment rate as of October 2024, among those aged 16 to 24, excluding students - an ageing population, and low consumer confidence post the property sector collapse, it remains to be seen whether these sectors would be able to spur consistent economic growth despite much of the investment being directed there.

However, a large, tech-savvy citizenry in China has traditionally served Chinese firms well. According to the 'Lived Changed Index', which tracks a country-wise lifetime per capita GDP change, somebody born in 1990 in China has seen their per capita GDP grow 32 times, as compared to 2.7x for the US and 5.5x for India. This constant change and even chaos caused by an exploding economy shapes the Chinese citizen’s mindset to become open to adapting new technologies. For example, as of 2024, China had a billion users on its payment platforms, as compared to 350 million in India, despite similar population numbers. A demanding, tech-native consumer base allows for greater experimentation and competition among private technology firms, pushing the overall ecosystem forward. Foundational AI skilling, as envisaged by the recent guidelines, will further enhance the technology proficiency of Chinese citizens.

Unlike the common perception that policies in China are designed and implemented in a strictly top-down manner characteristic of the country's authoritarian government, these policy documents display serious, original thinking that is sure to have come out of deep and consultative deliberations with multiple stakeholders, including academicians, practitioners and experts.

India must develop its Policy for AI in Education

These guidelines by China's Ministry of Education must push Indian counterparts to think seriously about deploying Generative AI in India's education system. While efforts via the IndiaAI mission are instrumental with the import of AI infrastructure and the launch of centres of excellence, they will fail to fructify without sufficient investments in human capital. The All India Council for Technical Education has already declared 2025 the 'Year of Artificial Intelligence' and announced a nationwide initiative to embed AI into higher education. However, tangible evidence of both practical implementation and measurable outcomes is lacking.

The National Education Policy recommends integrating more coding and AI skills starting from the sixth grade. The Central Board of Secondary Education has introduced AI as an elective subject for students between Grades 9 and 12. An 'AI for All' online course has been launched to teach the basics of AI education to the general public.

While developing mathematical, analytical, and computer science skills is necessary, AI's general-purpose applications and potential to improve productivity necessitate more foundational thinking, similar to that illustrated by China’s recent guidelines, about how future generations engage with it.

India currently lacks cohesive and comprehensive thinking about AI for its education policy. India must have a consultative process to bring about a national plan and a set of guidelines commensurate with its goals and international ambitions. To begin with, the rollout of such a policy could be voluntary and left to the discretion and capacity of the school management. Without such guardrails, students, teachers, and researchers will continue to use AI, as evidenced by universities struggling with unchecked and blatant plagiarism. The time is ripe for the Indian state to intervene with clear direction to ensure that AI is used for better teaching pedagogy, learning outcomes and productivity, and not to further complacency in the absence of cognitive thinking.

As long as India's domestic digital divide and low state capacity remain the lens through which India approaches its education policy, India risks furthering the digital divide and capability-building between its population and that of China.