Gujarat’s Higher Education Department has drafted a plan to train five lakh college students in artificial intelligence (AI). The Times of India reported on October 21. The first course, which is to be held online, has been designed by “primarily leveraging free AI learning resources,” according to an official.
The draft plan, Gujarat AI for Every Student Mission 2026-27, proposes training approximately 5,000 faculty members as “AI Master Trainers” within 12 months. The government has allocated Rs 20 crore for this initiative, but administrative and financial clearances are still pending. Students could receive AI training well before key protections under India’s data protection law become enforceable in May 2027. Although the news report references safeguards, MediaNama could not locate any official documentation or the draft plan online.
What does the draft propose?
The proposed mission has three levels, according to the report:
- Level one (eight hours): ‘AI Foundation for Every Student’, intended for all five lakh students, introduces AI and its applications, generative AI tools, “prompting fundamentals”, and the use of AI for learning and productivity.
- Level two, 25 hours: “AI for Domain Applications”, for one lakh learners, applies AI to eight streams of study, including commerce, engineering, agriculture, healthcare and law.
- Level three, 50 hours: “Advanced AI Skills and Employability”, for 20,000 students, is project-based blended training with industry case studies, a capstone project and a final assessment.
Students may enroll in advanced levels after completing the preceding levels or by “demonstrating equivalent competency”. Further, “a statewide dashboard will track enrolment, certification and progression through unique learner IDs,” an official said. These courses will be available in English and Gujarati.
How does it compare with the school AI curriculum?
The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) introduced its Computational Thinking and Artificial Intelligence (CT&AI) Curriculum, which is meant for Classes 3 to 8 and was launched on April 1, 2026. The curriculum “introduces CT first as a basis for learning AI later in higher classes,” through “fun math games, puzzles, and hands-on exercises using specialized worksheets,” the Ministry of Education’s press release says. Teachers also use a ‘Teacher Observation Journal’ as part of the student assessment process.
Minister of State for Education Jayant Chaudhary, in the above release, said that children should not be “passive users of technology, but thoughtful creators and responsible leaders of it.” Meanwhile, Gujarat’s foundational level, as described so far, is planned to start with generative AI tools and prompting.
What happens to students’ data?
On safety, an official said that a key safeguard in the course will be “verification of AI-produced outputs rather than accepting them at face value.” They also said that the curriculum is meant to “promote responsible use, secure student and institutional data and incorporate safeguards suited to different disciplines.” The report does not identify the free learning resources or AI tools proposed for the courses, or clarify whether students would need personal accounts on consumer AI services. This leads us to questions about the processing of their prompts, which would be left up to each provider’s own terms if not specified and negotiated by the state.
The Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act, 2023 is meant to regulate this kind of processing. Most of the DPDP Rules’ obligations, notified in November 2025, take effect only from May 13, 2027, when AI service providers processing the personal data of students under 18 may need verifiable parental consent, subject to applicable exemptions.
Coming to the dashboard’s “unique learner IDs,” it is not made clear if this would be the same as the Centre’s APAAR IDs, which are tied to the Academic Bank of Credits used in higher education, or if they are a separate state identifier.
Questions we sent
MediaNama has written to Gujarat’s Education Department (Higher and Technical Education) and has also sought the draft under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005. We will update this story with any response.
- Which free AI learning resources and tools would the foundation course use? Would students need personal accounts to access them?
- What the draft’s safeguards for student and institutional data provide, and who would hold the dashboard data.
- Whether the “unique learner IDs” would be APAAR IDs or a separate state identifier.
- How the Rs 20 crore allocation would be split between course content, trainer training, platforms and assessment.
- When the department expects the administrative and financial clearances.
Also read:
- India’s Education Ministry asks schools to begin ‘Automated Permanent Academic Account Registry’ process
- On closer reading: What India’s APAAR student ID consent form actually asks parents
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