New Delhi: Artificial Intelligence adoption in Indian schools remains at an early stage, with only 13% of schools reporting advanced, system-wide integration, while 25% have initiated structured implementation and another 25% remain in an exploratory phase, according to a national survey by QS I-GAUGE.
The findings are part of two reports released by QS I-GAUGE on AI adoption in Indian education, covering school education and higher education from the perspective of teachers and faculty.
The school education report, based on responses from senior academic leaders and teachers across 21 states and Union territories, found strong support for greater AI adoption but also highlighted gaps in institutional policies and preparedness.
About 91% of teachers said schools need to establish clear parameters defining when and how students can use AI in academic work. Meanwhile, 76% called for a formal policy governing AI use by students, faculty and staff.
Teachers identified faculty usage protocols (74%), cyber safety (70%) and academic integrity frameworks (69%) as the top policy areas requiring immediate attention.
Teacher training is also emerging as a priority. About 86% of respondents said their schools were prepared to provide structured professional development on responsible and effective AI use. AI-assisted lesson planning was identified as the most useful training area by 74% of teachers, followed by subject-specific pedagogical integration (73%) and assessment and feedback (70%).
Student learning support was the leading priority for AI adoption in schools, cited by 83% of teachers, followed by teacher productivity enhancement at 75% and personalised learning at 58%.
However, concerns among parents remain high. Teachers said the leading parental concerns around school-wide AI adoption were student data privacy and security and cognitive overdependence on AI, both cited by 77% of respondents, followed by increased screen time at 76%.
The higher education report presents a similar mix of optimism and concern. Based on faculty responses from 146 higher education institutions across 27 states and Union territories, 80% of faculty said their institutions were fully prepared to implement AI technologies in educational programmes.
However, 78% of faculty were concerned that excessive reliance on AI could reduce students’ independent thinking and problem-solving skills. Academic dishonesty emerged as the top student-related concern, cited by 72% of respondents, followed by students becoming excessively dependent on AI to complete their work at 63%.
Faculty also reported challenges in using AI tools. Verifying the accuracy of AI-generated responses was the most frequently cited challenge, reported by 68% of respondents, while 53% pointed to difficulties in understanding privacy and data-sharing limits.
Hands-on training workshops were the most sought-after institutional support, cited by 71% of faculty, followed by access to premium, enterprise-level AI tools at 61%.
The findings across both reports point to a widening need for educational institutions to move beyond simply introducing AI tools and focus on teacher capacity, institutional policies, academic integrity, data protection and responsible use.
