In India’s rural classrooms, children of different ages and learning abilities often sit together, while a single teacher struggles to address their individual learning needs. Some students are still unable to read basic texts, while others face language barriers that make classroom learning difficult. For Jayasree Ramesh, COO-Education at Kotak Education Foundation (KEF), this is where artificial intelligence (AI) can make a meaningful difference.
With over 30 years of experience in education, Jayasree Ramesh is working to combine technology, innovative teaching methods and teacher development to improve learning opportunities for children from disadvantaged communities.
A Fulbright Scholar in International Leadership in Education with a Master’s degree in English Literature, Jayasree Ramesh has taught students in India and the United States. Motivated by the need to close the opportunity gap, Jayasree Ramesh joined Kotak Education Foundation in 2018, focusing on improving access, affordability and quality through technology-enabled education.
Making Learning More Accessible
One of Jayasree Ramesh’s key contributions has been developing programmes that move
beyond conventional rote learning. The foundation’s Foundational Literacy and Numeracy (FLN) programme uses a six-station model combining kinaesthetic-motor, auditory, visual and interactive learning. Through play-
based activities, it helps primary schoolchildren develop reading, writing and arithmetic skills while supporting their cognitive, creative and socioemotional development.
Another initiative, Communicative English Future Readiness (CE-FR), reaches students in Grades 5 to 8 across thousands of partner schools. It focuses on spoken English, digital and financial literacy, communication and essential 21st-century skills. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, Jayasree Ramesh also helped develop KO-Teach, a digital teacher-training programme adapted from IIT’s O-Teach model.
Teachers were trained to use tools such as Google Meet, Kahoot, Mentimeter and Google Classroom to conduct interactive lessons and assessments. KEF’s KSHAMATA programme further strengthens teachers’ capabilities through need-based training in Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Gujarat and Maharashtra, including PM SHRI schools.
Taking STEM And AI To Underserved Communities
Jayasree Ramesh believes education must equip children with critical thinking, creativity, communication, collaboration and technology skills. Through its three-year partnership with the Tribal Research and Training Institute, Government of Maharashtra, KEF’s STEM project has trained over 2,000 teachers across 700
schools in 34 districts. The initiative uses activity-based and culturally relevant teaching methods to encourage scientific curiosity among students in tribal communities.
Jayasree Ramesh also oversees initiatives supporting students beyond school education. The Kotak Junior Scholarship supports 1,000 students in Classes 11 and 12 across the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, while the pan-India Kotak Kanya Scholarship assists meritorious girls pursuing professional degrees such as engineering, medicine and law.
The Kotak Shiksha Nidhi initiative supports the continuation of education for students who lost one or both parents during the COVID-19 pandemic. These scholarships also provide mentorship, academic support, career guidance and life-skills training.
How AI Can Transform India’s Classrooms
While speaking to The Logical Indian, Jayasree Ramesh highlighted the challenges faced by multigrade classrooms, particularly in rural areas, where students with different learning levels study together.
Referring to ASER 2024, Jayasree Ramesh noted that over half of Class 5 children still struggle to read a Class 2 text. She believes AI can help teachers understand individual learning levels, prepare suitable lessons and teach in languages children understand. However, she identifies three essential requirements: multilingual accessibility, compatibility with basic devices and limited internet connectivity, and government ownership to ensure long-term adoption. KEF’s AI Saathi is a multilingual AI teaching assistant designed around these principles.
“At Kotak Education Foundation, we see this through AI Saathi, our multilingual AI teaching assistant for teachers. Our principle is simple: technology should make a good teacher more effective, and a child’s learning shouldn’t depend on which social class they were born into.”
Empowering Teachers Through Technology
For Jayasree Ramesh, AI cannot replace teachers. Instead, it should strengthen their ability to support students. KEF’s OneKEF Learning Management System currently reaches over 50,000 teachers, students, facilitators and scholarship learners. Teachers upload videos and digital records of classroom activities, which AI evaluates using established rubrics. The system provides feedback through a ‘Glow & Grow’ framework, recognising teaching strengths while identifying areas for improvement.
Classroom observation videos can also be evaluated remotely, reducing the need for frequent physical visits to rural and tribal schools. Other initiatives include AI Saathi for Educators in Marathi, developed with the Maharashtra government and aligned with UNESCO’s AI Competency Framework for Teachers. Available through DIKSHA, it can reach over 7.5 lakh teachers.
In September 2026, KEF signed an MoU with SCERT Uttarakhand to develop a three-tiered AI literacy course for teachers in Hindi. KEF has also developed Yojaka with BharatGen, India’s first sovereign AI initiative. The platform records students’ spoken responses and suggests rubric-based scores to support English language assessment. Meanwhile, the Kotak Finishing School integrates AI into content creation and offers scholarship students training in communication, life skills and job readiness.
Keeping Human Connection at The Centre
Jayasree Ramesh believes AI should encourage independent thinking rather than simply provide students with ready-made answers.
“AI helps children build these skills only when it is used to provoke thinking, not to hand over answers. The same tool can sharpen a child’s reasoning or let her skip it, and the difference is mostly in how the teacher uses it.”
AI can help students practise communication through stories, prompts and role-playing exercises in their own languages. It can also encourage them to question information, identify errors and understand when AI-generated answers should be trusted.
For children with diverse learning needs, KEF promotes personalised adaptive learning, Individualised Education Programs and teaching methods based on different learning
strengths. Jayasree Ramesh also emphasises socioemotional development, including self-awareness, interpersonal skills, emotional wellbeing and responsible decision-making. She believes teachers remain essential mentors during children’s formative years.
Building Sustainable Change in Education
Over the next three to five years, Jayasree Ramesh wants KEF’s work to create lasting changes in school ecosystems. Through its Master Trainer model, the foundation is expanding CE-FR teacher training across Maharashtra’s Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Beed and Jalna districts.
For Jayasree Ramesh, success means teachers, school leaders, governments and communities continuing to use these practices even after the foundation completes its work. Her larger vision is to prepare children from marginalised backgrounds with academic knowledge, digital proficiency, financial literacy, communication skills and practical problem-solving abilities.
As AI reshapes education, Jayasree Ramesh believes learning must increasingly focus on skills and competencies rather than conventional educational pathways alone.
The Logical Indian Perspective
Technology alone cannot bridge India’s educational divide. Its impact depends on whether it reaches children who need it most, whether teachers are equipped to use it and whether schools can sustain these changes.
Jayasree Ramesh’s work at Kotak Education Foundation highlights the importance of combining AI with teacher empowerment, inclusive pedagogy and human mentorship.
AI can make learning more personalised and accessible, but teachers must remain at the centre of the process.
As India moves towards an increasingly technology-driven education system, an important
question remains:
Can we ensure that AI becomes a tool for equal educational opportunities rather than
another privilege available only to those who can afford it?
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