Telangana Expands AI in Government Schools and Public Health Facilities

The Government of Telangana is expanding the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) in public schools and healthcare facilities, leveraging Hyderabad's growing technology ecosystem, to address low reading levels among students and a shortage of doctors. According to a newly released White Paper titled 'AI for All: Catalysing Jobs, Growth and Opportunity' by Prosus and Boston Consulting Group (BCG), the state has already established 1,000 AI labs in government high schools and launched AI diagnostics in its public health infrastructure.

The state's educational push comes in response to data showing that only 44 percent of Class 5 students nationally can read a Class 2 text. To address this gap, Telangana has introduced AI education starting from primary grades. The state's EkStep adaptive learning platform, which currently covers 540 government primary schools, is now being expanded to reach more than 5,000 schools.

In addition to the EkStep platform, students in government schools are receiving AI and digital learning support through the CodeMitra programme. This initiative is run in partnership with Amazon Future Engineer and the Pi Jam Foundation. Furthermore, another 50,000 students across 500 government schools are being provided with AI education through Microsoft’s ADVANTA(I)GE initiative.

In the healthcare sector, where India faces a doctor-patient ratio of 1:811, the Telangana government has rolled out AI-powered diagnostics in district hospitals. This system operates through an integrated health profiling system that supports e-health profiles and screening for non-communicable diseases.

Additionally, AI-powered lung cancer screening using chest X-ray technology has been introduced in 20 public health facilities to improve early detection of the disease, particularly in underserved areas.

These public sector initiatives are backed by the broader technology ecosystem in Hyderabad, which currently hosts more than 350 global capability centres and over 2,000 start-ups supported by T-Hub. To further strengthen this ecosystem, the state has proposed a 200-acre AI City in Hyderabad as part of its vision to position itself as a global AI hub by 2035.