Scalable, responsible and India-centric sovereign AI models needed to transform education
Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan inaugurates the Bharat Bodhan AI Conclave 2026 at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi on Thursday.
NEW DELHI: Bharat Bodhan AI Conclave 2026 began at Bharat Mandapam on Thursday, bringing together policymakers, academic leaders, startups and industry representatives to accelerate the integration of Artificial Intelligence across India’s education ecosystem.
Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan launched the Bodhan AI Centre of Excellence at the inaugural session. Sukanta Majumdar, Minister of State for Education, was also present.
The two-day conclave is positioned as a national platform for landscape discovery, strategic alignment and partnership building in AI-enabled education. It aims to map gaps and opportunities, foster collaboration among government, academia, startups and industry, and initiate the development of the Bharat EduAI Stack — an open and interoperable architecture designed to build, integrate and scale AI-powered learning solutions nationwide.
The event is structured around four priority verticals: AI for School Education, AI for Higher Education, AI for Skilling and Workforce Readiness, and AI Research and Deep Technology.
Addressing the gathering on Thursday, Dharmendra Pradhan, Union Education Minister, said the conclave brings together academia, industry, policymakers, innovators and the skilling ecosystem to integrate AI in education at scale and develop the Bharat EduAI Stack. He referred to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call to make India AI-ready and stressed the importance of developing and deploying ethical, responsible and inclusive AI.
Pradhan said India’s AI would be inclusive by design, interoperable by architecture and sovereign by capability. He called on stakeholders to build scalable, responsible and India-centric sovereign AI models to transform education and advance the goal of Viksit Bharat. He added that the collective deliberations would help strengthen India’s AI capacity, build digital public infrastructure in education and ensure AI for all.
Sukanta Majumdar, Minister of State for Education, said that as the country moves towards the India-AI Impact Summit 2026, stakeholders must commit to S.A.F.E. AI — Secure, Accountable, Fair and Empowering — to ensure technology supports inclusive progress.
An exhibition showcasing AI-driven innovations in school education, higher education and skilling was inaugurated alongside the conclave, facilitating interaction between policymakers and innovators.
Key announcements during the session included an MoU exchange between IIT Bombay and Columbia University to establish a Centre of AI for Manufacturing at IIT Bombay, launch of the IIM Lucknow AI Programme, institutional collaborations involving IIM Jammu and AIT Bangkok, and the IIM Ranchi initiative on Teaching with AI.
A special session focused on Bodhan.ai, the AI Centre of Excellence for Education at IIT Madras, outlining the roadmap for building the open Bharat EduAI Stack. Pratyush Kumar, CEO, Sarvam AI, addressed the gathering and discussed the future trajectory of AI in education.
Two technical sessions were held on the opening day. The first, on School Education and Classroom Solutions, was moderated by Vibhu Mittal, CTO, Inflection AI, and featured speakers from leading education and edtech organisations.
The second session, on Teacher Capacity Building, Foundational Literacy and Numeracy and Systemic Reform, was moderated by Prakash Kumar, CEO, Wadhwani Centre for Government Digital Transformation, and brought together experts working on governance, teacher development and foundational learning.
The conclave will continue with sessions on Digital Public Infrastructure, AI platforms, emerging technologies, skills and higher education.
