Kotak Education Foundation uses AI to improve rural schooling in India

Jayasree Ramesh, the COO of Education at Kotak Education Foundation (KEF), is implementing artificial intelligence and innovative teaching methods to support children in disadvantaged Indian communities.

She joined the foundation in 2018 to use technology to improve the quality and affordability of education for students who face significant learning gaps. Ramesh developed the AI Saathi tool, a multilingual teaching assistant designed to help educators manage multigrade classrooms where children of different ages and abilities study together.

The system aims to help teachers identify individual student needs and provide lessons in local languages. To ensure the technology is useful in rural areas, Ramesh designed the tool to work on basic devices with limited internet connectivity. KEF also launched the OneKEF Learning Management System, which uses AI to evaluate classroom videos and provide feedback to more than 50,000 teachers, students, and facilitators. The foundation also runs various programs to build foundational skills and provide financial support.

These include the Foundational Literacy and Numeracy program, which uses play-based activities, and the Communicative English Future Readiness initiative for students in grades 5 to 8. KEF also manages scholarships for students in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region and across India, including a specific fund for students who lost parents during the COVID-19 pandemic. Ramesh emphasizes that AI should serve as a tool to provoke critical thinking rather than providing easy answers.

She works with government bodies, such as the Government of Maharashtra and the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) in Uttarakhand, to train teachers in STEM and AI literacy. Her goal is to create a sustainable school ecosystem where teachers and communities continue to use these modern practices independently.