Union Minister for Education Dharmendra Pradhan addresses the Bharat Bodhan AI Conclave 2026 at Bharat Mandapam. The event was also graced by Sukanta Majumdar, Minister of State for Education.
During the event, Pradhan launched the Bodhan AI Centre of Excellence. The Conclave marks a significant step in advancing the integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) across India’s education ecosystem. Senior officials including the Secretary, School Education & Literacy, Sanjay Kumar; Secretary, Higher Education (DoHE), Dr Vineet Joshi,; Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), S. Krishnan; Director, IIT Madras, Prof V Kamakoti; academic leaders, researchers, and founders from leading startups who use AI in Education, participated in the proceedings.
The Bharat Bodhan AI Conclave 2026 is envisioned as a national platform for landscape discovery, strategic alignment, and partnership building in AI-enabled education.
Its primary purpose is to:
Enable landscape discovery and ecosystem mapping to identify gaps and opportunities
Support strategic partnerships across government, academia, startups, and industry
Mark the beginning of the development of the Bharat EduAI Stack, an open and interoperable architecture to build, integrate, and scale AI-powered learning solutions across India
The conclave will engage solutions across four priority verticals - AI for School Education, AI for Higher Education, AI for Skilling and Workforce Readiness, and AI Research and Deep Technology.
Speaking on the occasion, Dharmendra Pradhan said that the two-day conclave brings together academia, industry, policymakers, start-ups, innovators, scientific leadership and the skilling ecosystem to integrate AI in education at scale and develop the ‘Bharat EduAI Stack’. He noted that Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has given a clarion call to make India AI-ready and has emphasised the need for developing and deploying ethical, responsible and inclusive AI.
A series of key launches and partnerships were announced during the session, including:
- MoU exchange between IIT Bombayand Columbia University to establish a Centre of AI for manufacturing at IIT Bombay
- Launch of the IIM Lucknow AI Programme
- Institutional collaborations involving IIM Jammuand AIT Bangkok
- IIM Ranchi Initiative – Teaching with AI
The Conclave witnessed a special session on Bodhan.ai, AI Centre of Excellence for Education at IIT Madras. A detailed presentation was made on the initiative including the need for building an open Bharat EduAI Stack. Pratyush Kumar, CEO, Sarvam AI also addressed the gathering and discussed about the future of AI in education.
Sukanta Majumdar, in his address, said that as we move towards the India-AI Impact Summit 2026, let us commit to S.A.F.E. AI Secure, Accountable, Fair, and Empowering so that India shapes technology for inclusive progress.
