Indian Army Launches AI Education Initiative For Northeast Tribal Children Under IIT Kanpur Mentorship

Indian Army has facilitated the enrolment of around 100 tribal children from the Northeast into an artificial intelligence (AI)-focused education programme under the mentorship of IIT Kanpur, while ensuring they continue their regular CBSE curriculum at the ITITI Doon Sanskriti School in Dehradun, Uttarakhand.

By Tarun Vijay: In a first-of-its-kind initiative aimed at bridging the educational divide in the country’s remote border regions, the Indian Army has facilitated the enrolment of around 100 tribal children from the Northeast into an artificial intelligence (AI)-focused education programme under the mentorship of IIT Kanpur, while ensuring they continue their regular CBSE curriculum at the ITITI Doon Sanskriti School in Dehradun, Uttarakhand.

The programme, spearheaded by the Army’s Spear Corps in partnership with the Assam Rifles, brings together children from some of the country’s most remote border villages in Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Tripura, Meghalaya and Assam. Among those selected are children from relief camps in violence-hit Manipur, where thousands remain displaced following the ethnic unrest that began in 2023. Under the initiative, the students will receive specialized training in artificial intelligence through an AI laboratory mentored by IIT Kanpur while pursuing their regular CBSE education at the tribal Gurukul in Dehradun. The school follows a value-based education model that combines science and technology with patriotism and cultural roots.

The initiative seeks to expose children from India’s ‘first villages’ along the borders with Tibet and Myanmar to emerging technologies and quality education, opening pathways that would otherwise remain inaccessible.

For many of the students, the journey itself marked a milestone, with several travelling by train and boarding an aircraft for the first time as they made their way to Dehradun under the Army’s Operation Vidya initiative.

The children received ceremonial send-offs from senior civil and military leaders before departing for their new academic session. In Manipur, Governor Ajay Bhalla interacted with and blessed the students, while Brigadier Pratyush Kumar, Commander of the Assam Rifles, extended his support to the participants.

In Arunachal Pradesh, Deputy Chief Minister Chowna Mein personally bid farewell to children from Namsai, describing education as a means of empowering tribal youth and strengthening national integration.

The programme also enjoys support from the Department of Science and Technology and the Uttarakhand State Council for Science and Technology (UCOST), which has established a STEM laboratory at the school. Plans are also underway to create a language laboratory for preserving and digitising tribal languages, with the first book already being developed in collaboration with the National Book Trust.

The initiative reflects the Army’s expanding role in supporting education and community development in border areas, complementing its operational responsibilities with long-term human capital development in strategically important regions.

(The author is a former Rajya Sabha MP and social worker.)