Inside India's first AI-powered anganwadi: How a rural classroom is bridging the digital divide

Indian Express

8 hours ago

Meher Pache, 4, can identify a crocodile in a virtual jungle in a jiffy, while Aarzoo Prajapati, 3, can draw balloons on the interactive smart board with a flourish that stuns adults.
A quiet learning revolution has been taking place since the past three months at India's first Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered anganwadi in a village in Maharashtra's Nagpur district, located around 18 km from the city. Not just their learning, even the number of students aged 2-6 years attending the anganwadi in Waddhamna village regularly has gone up from 10 children earlier to over 25 at present.
Since July, instead of being limited to chalks and slates, the tiny tots in this anganwadi have been learning poems, songs and foundational concepts with the help of virtual reality (VR) headsets from Meta (formerly Facebook for Business), AI-enabled interactive smart boards, tablets and other interactive digital content.
This step to redefine early childhood education was taken by the Nagpur Zilla Parishad, under its pioneering Mission Bal Bharari initiative, which aims to give children from rural areas the same digital access as their urban counterparts.
Inaugurated by Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on July 27, the project was launched at a cost of nearly Rs 9.5 lakh from the Zilla Parishad's CESS fund.
Of the district's 2,202 anganwadis, including five in the village, the one led by Saroj Kukde, an anganwadi worker at Waddhamna for 14 years, was chosen as the pilot model.
Vinayak Mahamuni, a 2021-batch IAS officer and the Nagpur Zilla Parishad CEO, says, 'We chose this particular anganwadi because of its accessibility, the sevika's (Kukde's) enthusiasm and its proximity to other centres for training visits. It also offers a secure environment for safeguarding the equipment.'
To ensure transparency, the anganwadi was retrofitted with Wi-Fi-enabled CCTV cameras that can be accessed by key stakeholders, including Mahamuni, his deputy and the Child Development Project Officer (CDPO).
Though the Zilla Parishad initially faced challenges in finding the right tech partner for the mission, Mahamuni says they eventually roped in Qolaba, a firm working under the Centre's IndiaAI programme.
Stating that the anganwadi was refurbished recently to both meet the new technological requirements and attract more children, Mahamuni says, 'These frontline educators (anganwadi workers) were trained to navigate this new world of smart learning to ensure that children even from the remotest of areas get a chance to learn in an engaging and modern environment.'
Aware that anganwadi workers already juggle multiple roles — from cooking meals to keeping records — Qolaba structured their training programme as a three-month module to ensure they did not get overwhelmed. Over the past two months, a team from the company started working on a user-friendly system built on the anganwadi workers' familiarity with smartphones.
Trained by Qolaba, Kukde uses 10 VR sets and the interactive smart board for around one hour each day to teach the students, who spend five hours at the anganwadi (from 9.30 am to 2.30 pm) six days a week.
Before its inauguration, despite the anganwadi giving the children breakfast and a mid-day meal, she said they had just 10 regular students, with most others enrolled only on paper. 'Now, over 25 children come to anganwadi regularly, filling the classroom with fresh energy and curiosity.'
Zilla Parishad CEO Mahamuni said they took care while integrating the syllabus with the AI system. 'The content was designed carefully to suit the needs of the children before being mapped to the tech platform,' he says.
Stating that the children now draw on the interactive smart board, learn about animals via the VR sets and even save their artwork digitally, Kukde says with a smile, 'Earlier, I taught with whatever tools I had. Now, I too learn new things every day. Though this transformation has been overwhelming, I feel proud to be a part of something so transformative.'
And the results are starting to show. While village resident Rajini Rahile's son Shivansh doesn't cry anymore at the mere mention of the word anganwadi, Preeti Balbudhe says the centre has transformed since her elder daughter went there eight years ago. 'My younger daughter recites poems I haven't even heard of,' Balbudhe says.
To improve learning outcomes, the Zilla Parishad had earlier introduced FITA (Fun in the Anganwadi), an initiative that used songs and games as teaching tools. 'Tech-enabled learning takes it a step further. For instance, after a virtual garden tour, children answer questions on what they saw. This helps us assess and track their comprehension skills. The system also adapts to support slower learners,' says Kailash Ghodke, Deputy CEO, Women and Child Development, Nagpur Zilla Parishad.
Explaining how the AI system helps slow learners, Mayank Mukul, the vice president of Qolaba, says, 'The smart board and VR headsets use gamified learning to track a child's response time and accuracy. For example, a child may be asked to identify a red car. Based on their response time, the system uses AI models (like Gemini and Perplexity) to adjust the difficulty levels. This helps all the children progress at their own pace,' he says, adding that Qolaba also uses AI models to chart each child's learning progress.
On the training given to anganwadi workers, Mukul adds, 'We give anganwadi workers structured sessions thrice a week. We coordinate with them as per their availability. The idea is to build confidence without rushing them and to ensure they understand how these tools can genuinely help.'
Under the next phase of their training, workers are now being introduced to generative AI tools, which can help create new content, like text, images, music, etc.
'For instance, if a government officer wants to send a text message but cannot be physically present, (anganwadi worker) Kukde can use the dashboard to convert the text message into a speech and broadcast it using the system,' says Mukul.
Though Kukde is the only AI-trained anganwadi worker for now, weekend sessions have started for workers from other centres. 'These sessions involve a visit to the pilot anganwadi to observe and learn with Qolaba's help. Training is intentionally conducted in person, not just through manuals,' Mukul says.
Meanwhile, plans are afoot to expand the project to 40 more anganwadis in the district, besides tracking physical and cognitive developments more closely, and using AI tools to evaluate nutrition.
Zilla Parishad CEO Mahamuni says their mission is not limited to just bridging the digital divide in rural areas. 'An anganwadi is not just about education, but also about the holistic growth of women and children. We plan to integrate AI to help us track nutrition and development, and learning outcomes,' he added.
On how AI can also be used to track these, Mukul says, 'One of the major advantages of AI is its ability to simplify data analysis. Using existing data from the Poshan Tracker (which enables real-time monitoring of nutrition services and better tracking of progress), we can now monitor a child's growth and learning outcomes in real time.'
Explaining the process, Nagpur Zilla Parishad CEO Mahamuni says, 'Anganwadi workers will upload pictures of meals to get real-time feedback on whether they meet a child's age-specific needs. This will be integrated with the Poshan Tracker data.'
The broader vision includes tracking pregnancies, converting government orders into audio and introducing multi-language education, including English, Hindi and Marathi, and a foreign language, like German or French, for students.
While the journey wasn't always smooth, especially convincing workers and parents to adapt to this new model, Mahamuni says the response has been encouraging. For now, the Zilla Parishad is busy receiving visitors from other blocks who are keen on replicating the pilot anganwadi. Mahamuni says, 'If we can show how AI can transform rural education and health, it can be replicated across India. This is not just a tech project but a social movement.'