As UP Board is introducing changes to its curriculum for the academic session 2026-27, with a focus on digital literacy, cybersecurity awareness, the secondary education department is gearing up to train its teachers on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and robotics by the experts of the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur (IIT-K). The training will start next month in small batches.The training will start next month in small batches. (HT)The proposed training programme will benefit 750 teachers from the secondary education department, 140 faculty members from district institutes of education and training (DIETs) and 10 faculty members from various SCERT units, said Pawan Sachan, joint director, SCERT.“There will be a one-week physical training session for teachers with IIT experts, and the remaining seven weeks will be an assignment-based work schedule. These trained educators will further contribute to the expansion of technology-based education across schools and teacher-training institutions,” said Sachan.“We believe this initiative will promote innovation-driven learning, scientific temper, creativity and technological proficiency among students, helping Uttar Pradesh emerge as a leading state in digital and future-oriented education,” he added.In a step towards integrating future technologies into government secondary schools, the state education department announced an initiative to strengthen digital learning by organising an eight-week teacher training programme led by experts from IIT Kanpur.State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) plans to provide specialised training to 900 teachers during the financial year 2026-27 through the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur in Digital Literacy, Computational Thinking, Coding, Artificial Intelligence and Robotics.The initiative will help bring modern technological education to students and accelerate the implementation of National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, said an official in the know.SCERT has been working to strengthen digital education across the state. Based on a specially developed curriculum, training modules have already been implemented for nearly 45,000 science teachers of upper primary schools.These teachers have been trained to integrate digital tools, logical reasoning and technology-based concepts into classroom teaching.Growing academic collaboration with IIT KanpurPartnership between SCERT and IIT Kanpur continues to expand in support of digital education. During the academic year 2025-26, IIT Kanpur experts had trained 756 teachers. Building on this experience, the institute will now train 900 teachers in 2026-27 on advanced subjects such as Artificial Intelligence, Coding, Robotics and Computational Thinking. The programme will also include hands-on learning experiences to help teachers effectively deliver these concepts in classrooms.