Students at remote Telangana village tap AI sources to increase knowledge

A good example of how digital infrastructure can fill educational gaps, students of the Zilla Parishad High School (ZPHS) in Peddapalli district's Adavi Srirampur village are embracing state-of-the-art artificial intelligence tools like Perplexity.ai, thanks to high-speed internet availability under the T-Fiber project of the Telangana government.

T-Fiber, the flagship project of the government, aims to connect each home with affordable, high-speed broadband. With its Proof of Concept deployment, Adavi Srirampur is one of four pilot villages experiencing the force of digital inclusion.

A new video created by the T-Fiber team presents students at the Adavi Srirampur school utilizing Perplexity.ai, an AI-based research assistant, to question, clear confusion, and learn more about topics beyond their textbook through voice-based queries. The video drew praise from Perplexity Co-founder and CEO Aravind Srinivas, who reposted it on social media platform ‘X’, noting: “It is great to see schools in India having their students learn with Perplexity as a tutor. Our founding mission is to make the world’s knowledge accessible, and I’m glad it’s having its impact.”

Responding to the post, IT Minister D Sridhar Babu recollected encountering Srinivas in August last year and reaffirmed the government's determination for technological parity.

Min: 1 cr houses getting T-Fiber

Through our administration, one crore houses are being connected with T-Fiber to introduce Silicon Valley-standard technologies like Perplexity.ai to even students of remote villages like Adavi Srirampur (200 km away from Hyderabad). A school girl of a government school performing Perplexity in her classroom is proof that this vision is being realized," he said.

T-Fiber MD P Venu Prasad underscored the larger picture of the initiative, saying, "This is a glimpse of what can be achieved when we bridge the unconnected. With T-Fiber, we are not merely offering the internet; we are offering opportunity, access, and a platform for rural students to thrive in the digital world. Telangana is determined to leave no village behind."

Apart from Adavi Srirampur, the Proof of Concept deployment of T-Fiber also spans three other pilot villages, namely Hajipalle in Rangareddy, Maddur in Narayanpet, and Sangupet in Sangareddy districts.