Kerala’s KITE Initiative:
Kerala’s KITE initiative has gained national and international attention for ethically integrating Artificial Intelligence (AI) in school education, with UNICEF recognising it as a global best practice in responsible EdTech.
- Kerala Infrastructure and Technology for Education (KITE) is the technology arm of Kerala’s General Education Department. It was established to integrate digital tools and AI in school education while ensuring transparency, inclusion, and teacher autonomy.
- Launched by: Government of Kerala
- Objective is to enable ethical, equitable, and open-source-based AI integration in public education; to empower teachers and protect student data sovereignty.
Key Features of the KITE AI Initiative:
- Mass Teacher Training: Trained 80,000+ teachers (Classes 8–12) in critical AI use, including bias detection, privacy concerns, and curricular alignment.
- Free and Open-Source Software (FOSS): Adopted across 15,000+ schools, ensuring autonomy, cost-effectiveness, and transparency in AI tools.
- Samagra Plus AI Platform: Kerala’s own RAG-based AI engine curated by expert teachers; aligns directly with state curriculum to avoid test-prep or bias traps.
- Student-Centric Innovation: Little KITEs IT Clubs train students in robotics and AI through hands-on, contextual learning; praised by UNICEF as a global best practice.
- Data Sovereignty & Bias-Resistance: By using in-house infrastructure and open datasets, KITE avoids commercial surveillance models and ensures bias-resistant AI responses.
