Meet IAS Saumya Jha who is solving biggest problem, using AI to help …., is now posted at…
Certain IAS officers have made significant contributions to society, and Saumya Jha is one of those IAS officers. Saumya Jha, as the IAS officer in charge of the Tonk district, was instrumental in launching the ‘Padhai with AI’ initiative to revolutionize education in Rajasthan. By combining advanced technology with excellent community engagement, it aims to make learning more interactive, inclusive, and effective for students.
What major problem is Saumya Jha addressing through AI?
When Saumya visited local schools in the district, she gleaned some information. This creative project was born out of this realization, when she recognized the alarming gap between students’ aspirations and their actual academic performances.
According to The BetterIndia report, Saumya stated, “I was pleasantly surprised by their responses. Beyond the usual dreams of becoming doctors or teachers, many aspired to work with cutting-edge technology like AI, robotics, and drones. But I noticed a troubling gap — very few were opting for science streams, largely due to low confidence in core subjects like mathematics, which is most aligned with their ambitions.”
IAS officer Saumya Jha noted that students’ academic achievements in Tonk were impacted by various reasons: first, inconsistent classroom teaching, which was often an outcome of teachers being assigned election work; and second, fluctuations in attendance that typically occur when families are involved in farming (e.g., now during the Rabi season). Families are drawn toward agricultural work, especially during the Rabi season, which effectively steals their children’s learning when students should be focusing on preparing for exams.
To address the learning gaps in Tonk, IAS officer Saumya Jha initiated the ‘Padhai with AI’ scheme in September, which uses artificial intelligence to engage students in a new way and to bridge the gaps in education.
How is AI being used to support students or beneficiaries in her program?
The core of ‘Padhai with AI’ is an intelligent bilingual AI tutor that helps students learn difficult topics with ease. It answers textbook questions in real time and re-answers the question with different explanations with refresh. It allows the teacher to create unlimited practice tests with variations of question types and various difficulty levels.
Who is Saumya Jha?
Saumya, a 2017-batch IAS officer, has taken to calling the programme her ‘brainchild’, which has stemmed from her own experiences, insights, and professional journey herself. The first phase of the programme was launched in September 2024, and with the launch of Version 2 in January 2025, hit a major upgrade away from the pilot model in September. Version 2 includes a structured teaching calendar, active weekly assessment of students, advanced performance analytics, etc. Saumya also has the AI portal highlight the top performing students, which in turn encourages students to improve their performance as well. At present, the programme is running in all 353 government senior secondary schools across the district.
The AI portal is truly transformative for students, assisting Class 10 students to enhance their understanding of mathematical concepts and provide more confidence when solving mathematical problems. Thre are more than 11,000 students in the district who have engaged with this project so far. As per her LinkedIn profile, IAS Saumya Jha is serving as the District Magistrate of Tonk.
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