Hack the Classroom: AI-Powered Learning Companion for Public Schools in India

Hack the Classroom: AI-Powered Learning Companion for Public Schools

“Sir… am I getting better at writing stories now?” I looked down at the notebook in front of me—carefully written in Marathi, with uneven but determined letters. Rajani, a quiet third grader in my multigrade classroom, had finally started writing more than two sentences. I knelt beside her, ready to offer encouragement and specific feedback.

Just then, the headmaster appeared at the door. “Ranjit, stop teaching—we need the school development report typed and submitted by 2 PM.” Rajani looked at me, her pencil still in hand. I gave her a smile that masked my frustration and walked away from her unfinished thought.

That moment has never left me. Because it wasn’t rare—it was routine. This scene unfolds daily across 69,000 government schools in Maharashtra. More than 500,000 teachers and 2.5 million students are affected by these structural constraints.

Since I began teaching in 2009, I’ve worked in classrooms where third and fourth graders sit together, learn together, and too often—struggle quietly together. Teachers like me are expected to juggle two curriculums, thirty-plus learners, and endless administrative tasks—all at once. The real casualty? Our capacity to see and support each child.

‘Hack the Classroom’ was born from this reality. Not as a tech innovation, but as a teacher’s quiet wish: What if I had something—someone—to help me see every child better?

Years later, while studying at Harvard, I joined the AI for Good Hackathon at Harvard Kennedy School. I had the vision. I had the classroom experience. But I couldn’t find a team. For a moment, I doubted myself. That’s when my mentor, Kailash, stepped in.

“Ranjit,” he said, “you don’t need a full team to start. You just need the passion to solve this problem. Technology will meet you there. Don’t give up.”

I didn’t. I was sure about one thing: technology could help teachers like me focus on individual students. But there was a catch—most AI tools were in English. My students and I speak Marathi. There wasn’t a single AI companion built in our language to help us teach, learn, and grow. So I decided that if it doesn’t exist, I’ll build it.

‘Hack the Classroom’ is an AI-powered learning companion for public schools. Built using Gemini Advanced and tested across rural Maharashtra, it operates entirely in Marathi—the language of over 80 million people. Through my participation in the AI for Good hackathon, I was able to build the AI logic that transforms student performance data into personalized, Marathi-language learning plans, and package that into a usable prototype interface for teachers.

Today, Hack the Classroom can:

• Generate personalized assignments for every student
• Read handwritten answers in Marathi with 95% accuracy
• Evaluate responses in under 45 seconds
• Create a learning plan tailored to each student’s performance, learning gaps, and preferred learning style

I piloted Hack the Classroom with 225 students in 12 rural schools. Every student received a custom learning roadmap. Teachers reported a 40% reduction in grading time and 92% of students said they felt clearer and more confident about what to do next.

"I used to spend hours after school trying to figure out how to help each student, but I always felt like I was guessing. With Hack the Classroom, I get clear, personalized plans based on what my students actually need—and in Marathi, which makes it so easy to follow. For the first time, I feel like I’m not alone in the classroom. It’s like having a thoughtful assistant who knows my students almost as well as I do."

- Mr. Pradeep Tandale, Teacher, Zilla Parishad School, Tembhurni

One student also told me, “it feels like someone is thinking only about me.” That’s what we mean when we talk about personalization—and that’s what Hack the Classroom delivers.

What We Hope to Achieve

I hope to reimagine education through the lens of equity, language, and learner identity.

In the short term, I aim to:

• Expand the pilot to 100 schools, refining the model across geographies, dialects, and learner profiles
• Partner with state government to align my AI model with state curriculum standards
• Develop customized model for parents to support learning beyond school

But this is just the beginning.

The long-term vision is to build it as a globally adaptable platform—a multilingual, AI-driven infrastructure for public education systems across the world. Personalized learning should not be a luxury; it should be a right, delivered through tools that understand how children learn, speak, and grow.

My goal is to restore teacher’s time and sharpen thoughtful insight. Hack the Classroom empowers educators to teach with empathy, nuance, and joy.

What Happens Next

I am ready to scale—but I need strategic partners to take it forward.

I’m actively seeking:

• AI researchers to strengthen model accuracy, adaptability, and fairness
• Philanthropic support to expand our reach from 12 to 100 schools
• Public sector allies to embed it into systemic reform

It began as a whisper in a crowded classroom. Today, it’s a working solution. Tomorrow—with the right collaborators—it can become a global model for ethical, equitable, AI-powered learning.

And if Rajani ever asks me that question again—“Sir, am I getting better at writing stories?”—I want to be fully there, with time to read every word.