How AI Helps Solve Education Challenges in India

India’s education system has long struggled with complex challenges. But as we step further into the age of digital transformation, AI in Education is emerging not just as a tool but as a transformative force that could redefine learning experiences and tackle these problems smartly.

Key Challenges of Quality Education in India

India’s educational framework is layered with diverse needs, but many of them go unmet. Here’s a snippet of the most pressing issues of quality education:

1. Multi-Grade, Multi-Level Classrooms

   This problem seems to be particularly prevalent in the rural areas, where one teacher is often tasked with instructing students across different grades. This dilutes attention and makes it difficult to deliver grade-appropriate content. As a result, learning levels drop and foundational skills remain underdeveloped.

2. Lack of Interactive Teaching

   Another challenge in quality education is the reliance on rote learning and traditional lectures, which leave little room for active, student-led engagement. Without tailored interventions or interactive tools, struggling learners are left further behind.

3. Neglecting Students at Risk of Dropping Out

   Early signs of student disengagement are often missed. This disengagement may lead to dropouts, which can happen due to a lack of targeted intervention and support, inadequate school infrastructure, poor school readiness, learning gaps, language barriers, family circumstances (for marginalised students), and other reasons. And when schools and educators fail to take action to bridge the gap between learning and student needs, dropout rates rise.

4. Uneven Teacher Distribution

   Many Indian states experience an uneven distribution of teachers. Despite high vacancy rates, the challenge lies in their unequal spread across regions. This not only strains the existing staff but also affects the student-teacher ratio and the overall classroom experience.

5. Training Gaps in Professional Development

   Many training programmes for educators fail to address real classroom challenges. The disconnect between what’s taught in training and what’s actually faced means professional development rarely translates into better teaching outcomes.

6. Limited Use of Technology in Classrooms

   While digital tools are available, their adoption rate still remains low. This happens mainly because either the infrastructure is lacking, or teachers aren’t trained in integrating technology effectively into their teaching, further widening the digital divide.

Clearly, solving the challenges of quality education in India requires more than policy changes. This is where AI can step in.

How Can the Application of AI in Education Improve the Quality?

The application of AI in education is no longer a futuristic concept. But educators need to realise that AI isn’t just there to digitise the learning experience. It also customises, adapts, predicts, and analyses in real time.

Let’s explore how some global innovations are being contextualised for Indian needs:

1. Adaptive Learning for Personalised Progress

   With the help of AI-powered platforms and tools, personalised learning can be achieved smoothly. AI-powered platforms adjust learning pathways based on each student’s pace, strengths, and weaknesses. Tools like these ensure that every learner, whether advanced or struggling, receives content aligned with their needs.

   Extramarks leverages such intelligent systems to deliver dynamic, adaptive practice modules that keep students engaged and motivated.

2. Smart Tutoring Systems

   AI-driven smart tutoring systems help deliver learning materials to students based on their learning style, proficiency level, and learning pace. This is especially useful in large classrooms where paying attention to individual students is not always possible.

3. Predictive Analytics for Student Retention

   AI can flag early signs of disengagement, irregular attendance, declining performance, and behavioural indicators, helping schools and educators to intervene at the right time before a dropout happens. This kind of foresight is crucial in tackling the challenges of quality education.

4. Automated Teacher Allocation

   By analysing data on student numbers, subject requirements, and teacher availability, AI can help rationalise deployments. This means ensuring teachers are placed where they’re most needed, reducing the supply-demand gap created by vacancies and uneven distribution.

5. Customised Professional Development

   Adaptive AI‐driven platforms can automatically generate and continuously refine training content tailored to each teacher’s performance, pinpointing their specific knowledge and skill gaps and adapting as their expertise grows.

Education Challenges and Their AI Solutions Based on Education Level

The challenges of quality education in the country don’t look the same at every stage. Let’s examine how AI responds to the unique issues at each level of learning:

Real-World Examples of AI in Indian Classrooms

To understand the real-world application of AI in education, let’s explore some case studies and innovations making a difference:

1. Predicting Dropouts in Andhra Pradesh With Microsoft

   In Andhra Pradesh, the state government partnered with Microsoft to harness how AI helps in education by deploying an Azure Machine Learning application that analyses student data, ranging from gender and socio‑economic background to academic performance, school infrastructure and teacher skills, to uncover patterns signalling potential drop‑outs.

   Armed with these insights, district officials in Visakhapatnam identified some 19,500 students at risk for the 2018-19 academic year and organised targeted counselling programmes and support initiatives to keep them in school.

2. Smart Content by Content Technologies Inc.

   Harnessing the application of AI in education, CTI’s deep‑learning engines digest existing textbooks, curriculum, and course materials to automatically generate bespoke learning assets, like customised e‑textbooks, concise chapter summaries, and engaging multiple‑choice tests. With this smart content approach, dense theory transforms into interactive modules, making complex topics more accessible for learners.

3. Automated Essay Scoring

   At Modern School in India, teachers were spending countless hours grading long‑form essays, which limited their capacity for one‑on‑one support and slowed the feedback loop. By deploying an AI‑powered essay scoring system trained on thousands of marked responses, the school automated assessments for structure, coherence, grammar and style. This not only slashed grading time but also delivered rapid, detailed feedback that helped students refine their writing promptly.

   Importantly, the school maintained human oversight to review nuanced elements and kept the AI models updated, ensuring alignment with current standards and transparency in the grading process.

4. WriteToLearn by Pearson

   Pearson’s WriteToLearn uses natural language processing to provide students with personalised feedback, hints and tips on aspects such as organisation, idea development and style. By handling the first pass at grading, the system slashes the time teachers spend on assessments, enabling them to focus on in‑depth feedback and one‑on‑one coaching.

   This collaborative model illustrates how AI helps in education, streamlining the grading process while preserving the invaluable human touch.

5. Extramarks AI Solutions

   Extramarks uses the power of AI in Indian education through features like automated assessments, real-time performance tracking, and tailored revision plans. With this, it addresses both learning gaps and exam readiness. The platform’s AI-driven analytics decode strengths, pinpoint weak areas, and even recommend personalised study strategies, proving to be a holistic way of demonstrating how AI helps in education every single day.

The Road Ahead: Can AI Redefine Indian Education?

It’s clear that while India’s education sector faces layered, long-standing issues, the application of AI in it presents promising, scalable solutions. From foundational learning to higher secondary prep, AI is transforming the way we teach, learn, assess, and even counsel.

That said, the path to success lies not just in deploying cutting-edge tools but in building inclusive ecosystems, where teachers are empowered, infrastructure is robust, and platforms like Extramarks continue to innovate with learners at the core.

Last Updated on August 22, 2025