– Vivek Prakash, CEO, Codingal

The arrival of AI in education is changing what is possible inside a classroom. The more useful question, though, is not how much AI belongs there. It is what the board, the book, the screen and the teacher should each do when AI becomes part of the learning environment.

The board: a place for thinking together

The board has one simple advantage: everyone can see it.

A mathematics problem can take several routes. Put two solutions side by side and the class has something to discuss. A science concept can be drawn and changed as ideas develop. A student’s question can take the lesson somewhere unexpected.

That shared experience matters when answers are readily available. Instead of simply displaying a solution, the board can show how students arrived at one. They can explain a step, question a method or spot a mistake in someone else’s reasoning.

The board becomes a place where thinking happens in public.

The book: a foundation for depth

Books offer something different. They give knowledge structure and give students time to stay with an idea.

Reading closely builds vocabulary and context. It also helps students follow an argument, understand a sequence and connect one idea to another. Those habits matter when an answer can be found almost instantly.

Take a chapter on fractions. A student can work through the examples and then use AI to revisit a difficult step or see it explained another way. The book has done its job; the technology gives the learner another route into the idea.

The screen: a tool for active learning

The value of a screen depends largely on what happens on it.

Students can run a simulation, build a digital project, experiment with code, explore a mathematical idea or practise a skill and see the result immediately. AI can make that practice more responsive. A learner who needs another explanation can try one. Someone ready for a greater challenge can move on.

The goal is better screen time, not necessarily more screen time.

A good classroom use of technology should give students something to do: create, test, explore, build or solve.

The teacher: more insight, more impact

As information becomes easier to access, the teacher’s role can become even more focused on the learner.

Diagnosis matters. So do mentoring, coaching and the design of learning experiences. A teacher notices the pause before an answer, the mistake that keeps returning and the student who is ready for the next challenge.

AI can help with some of the work around that. It can flag patterns in student responses, offer another explanation or handle repetitive tasks. The teacher can then spend more attention where it matters.

The human relationship remains central. Encouragement, judgement and an understanding of the individual child cannot be reduced to a data point.

AI should extend what a good teacher can do, not replace the teacher.

AI as an intelligence layer

Across the classroom, AI can work quietly in the background. It can support practice, provide feedback, offer different explanations and give teachers a clearer view of where students may need help.

Personalisation, however, should leave room for connection.

Children need to learn with one another. They need conversation, debate and teamwork. They need to explain an idea aloud, listen to a different approach and sometimes change their minds.

Consider a mathematics lesson on fractions. The textbook introduces the concept through worked examples. The teacher and students then gather around the board, divide shapes and discuss what makes two parts equal.

Next comes individual practice. Some students work through familiar examples; others take on harder ones. AI-supported hints are available when needed. The teacher can see where misconceptions are appearing and spend time with students who need another explanation.

Then everyone comes back together.

Students compare methods and explain their reasoning. One approach leads to another. The individual practice has been personalised, but the learning remains shared.

When answers are abundant, thinking matters more

AI makes answers easier to obtain. That makes the thinking around an answer more important.

Students need to ask good questions, reason through problems and check whether a response makes sense. They need to explain their ideas, create something of their own and defend a point of view. Just as importantly, they need to recognise when an answer — whether produced by a person or a machine — deserves another look.

The classroom of the future should have more intelligence, not necessarily more technology.

A child may still walk into a room with a teacher, classmates, books and a board. What changes is the support available around them: more personalised help for each learner and more intelligence available to teachers as they guide the class.

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