Indian Institute of Technology Madras Expands ‘Vidya Shakti’ to Boost Free Digital Education for Rural Students

Vidya Shakti provides free online instruction of math, science, and English to rural students after school hours and has a plan to add 100 more rural centres for 10,000 additional students.

AI-Powered Assessment: Students' handwritten work is photographed and graded by AI, which also allows for live monitoring of performance and provision of personalized learning support. Advanced EdTech Tools: EdTech platforms like EduReach can instantly provide the quiz, dashboard, and interactive interface and have other AI features like automated question generation to make the teacher and student experience more enjoyable and effective.

For many students in rural Tamil Nadu, clearing a doubt in math or science after school often means waiting until the next day’s class. IIT Madras has been working on that for a while now through its Vidya Shakti free digital education initiative, where teachers teach science, maths and English to students online after school hours.

“The programme has become so popular that we plan to expand it to reach 10,000 more students with 100 more rural interaction centres next academic year,” says Nagarajan Pichumani, project director, VIdya Shakti, IIT Madras Pravartak Technologies Foundation.

“These live online classes will help students clarify doubts. Teachers will also explain difficult topics using virtual reality,” says Pichumani.

In the coming year, the assessment will focus on writing skills. “Teachers will dictate the questions, and students will write their answers. These will be photographed and evaluated using AI tools. The results will then be sent to coordinators at the centres to track performance and help improve student learning,” he adds. IIT Madras uses digital platforms such as EduReach, a novel edtech programme developed by Wadhwani School of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence (WSAI) for Vidya Sakthi.

The programme caters to seven lakh students across the country. “We want to reach out to 11 lakh children in 11,000 schools across 10 states.”

The platform also features instant quiz assessment and digital question rendering. A performance dashboard allows administrators to view state-level, district-level and student-level trends, strengthening data-driven governance in school systems.

“Several advanced capabilities are in progress, including teacher and learner feedback systems, interactive interfaces and AI-powered tools such as automated question generation and the integration of assessments into educational videos for real-time evaluation,” says Nandan Sudarsanam, project coordinator, EduReach.

“These innovations are built to enhance usability and scalability, supporting both teachers and learners in navigating digital education with greater ease.”

IIT Madras plans to host a day-long workshop to familiarise educators, administrators and policy stakeholders with the platform’s features.