What is Mission RAFTAAR and why is it being created?

Mission RAFTAAR — full name Robotics and AI Framework for Teachers Advancement and Academia Readiness — is a pilot project of the Punjab State School Education Department, officially announced on June 22, 2026. Its ambition is to transform selected state schools into so-called digital innovation centers, where students become not just passive users of technology, but active creators and problem-solvers.

In the first phase, the program is being rolled out in 23 schools in the Jalandhar district — specifically in 20 schools involved in the nationwide PM SHRI program (a scheme to support quality schools) and 3 other state secondary schools. If the pilot proves successful, it will expand to a total of 425 schools across the entire state of Punjab, which has approximately 30 million inhabitants.

"Computer teachers from selected schools will undergo training in two batches at IIT Delhi and IISc Karnataka this month," said Deepak Arora, Project Director for Information and Communication Technology in Jalandhar district. Teacher training is at the core of the entire initiative — the program does not rely solely on hardware purchases, but on systematic education of pedagogues.

What will children learn?

The content of the curriculum goes significantly beyond traditional computer literacy. Students will be introduced to four key areas:

• Artificial Intelligence — basics of machine learning, how models like ChatGPT or Gemini work, ethical issues of AI
• Robotics — building and programming robots, sensors, actuators
• Internet of Things (IoT) — how connected devices communicate with each other and how they can be used in practice
• Cybersecurity — data protection, recognizing online threats, safe online behavior

Emphasis is placed on practical, project-based learning. Students are expected to develop their own projects and participate in technology competitions at various levels. Schools involved in the program will also receive the necessary infrastructure and equipment for teaching AI and robotics.

According to the official statement from the School Education Department, the goal is to "foster innovation, critical thinking, creativity, and problem-solving skills" — abilities that are increasingly valuable in the age of AI.

India as a global laboratory for educational AI

Mission RAFTAAR is not an isolated experiment. It fits into the broader framework of India's National Education Policy 2020 (NEP 2020), which, among other things, introduces programming from the 6th grade and emphasizes digital literacy as a fundamental competence of the 21st century. The Indian government plans to increase education spending from the current approximately 3% of GDP to 6%.

India recognizes that as a country with 1.4 billion inhabitants and a huge young population, it needs to equip the rising generation with skills that will be decisive in the global labor market. According to estimates by the World Economic Forum, approximately 170 million new jobs will be created by 2030 as a result of AI transformation — while 92 million existing positions will disappear. Countries that invest early in AI education will gain a huge competitive advantage.

Moreover, India is no newcomer to introducing technology into schools. Already in 2023, the state of Kerala launched the KITE program, which equipped thousands of schools with IT infrastructure and trained tens of thousands of teachers. The state of Tamil Nadu, in turn, announced its own initiative in 2024 to teach AI and robotics in secondary schools.

What this means for the Czech Republic and Europe

While India is implementing AI and robotics education in hundreds of state schools, Czech education is significantly lagging in this area. Although the revision of the Framework Educational Programs (RVP) envisages strengthening digital competencies, specific teaching of artificial intelligence in primary and secondary schools remains rather an exception — typically in the form of optional seminars or clubs in a few schools.

Although the Czech AI Strategy until 2030 mentions the need for AI education, its implementation in schools is slow. There is a lack of both systematic teacher training and a clear curriculum. For comparison: while Punjabi teachers go for training at IIT Delhi — an institution that regularly ranks among the top 50 technical universities in the world — Czech educators are introduced to AI mainly through voluntary webinars and online courses.

The European Union is trying to address the situation through the Digital Education Action Plan and initiatives such as the European Digital Education Hub. In 2025, the European Commission issued ethical guidelines for the use of AI in education, emphasizing the need to equip both teachers and students with competencies for safe and meaningful work with AI tools. However, specific implementation is up to individual member states — and that is the biggest weakness.

The Czech AI Factory program, which recently launched in Ostrava as part of the European network of AI centers of excellence, could also serve as an inspiration for the Czech Republic. Although it primarily concerns computational capacities for research, it could also serve as a platform for educational projects aimed at young talents in the future.

Why it matters

Mission RAFTAAR shows a fundamental truth: the future of education depends not just on technology, but on teachers. The Indian model, which relies on intensive training of educators at top institutions, stands in sharp contrast to an approach where schools buy tablets and interactive whiteboards, but no one teaches the teachers what to do with them.

For Czech readers, this is a reminder that the race for a technological future is not won only in Silicon Valley research labs or Nvidia data centers. It is also won in classrooms where eleven-year-olds encounter a robot for the first time or write their first prompt for a language model. And India — a country that many Europeans still associate more with call centers and outsourcing — is unexpectedly setting the pace in this race.