evidoria

← Back to browse

Good practice Imported

AI Clubs / Artificial Intelligence Student Societies — Sri Lanka's 100-school national AI-literacy pilot

Sri Lanka · Colombo · See the Sri Lanka profile · See the Colombo profile

Evidence: Descriptive / self-reported Top 73% 40/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

Sri Lanka's Cabinet approved AI Clubs ('Artificial Intelligence Student Societies') in 100 schools nationwide from August 2024, aiming to reach roughly 300,000 students in grades 6–9, with Microsoft committing to train 100 teachers alongside AIClub and SLASSCOM.

100
Schools in pilot
~300,000
Students projected to be reached
6-9
Grades covered
100
Teachers Microsoft committed to train

Details

Maturity
Pilot
Promoter
Ministry of Education Sri Lanka / Ministry of Technology / SLASSCOM / Microsoft
Period
2024–present
Keywords
K-12 education, government pilot, public-private partnership, teacher training, AI clubs

Context

On 21 August 2024, Sri Lanka's Cabinet of Ministers approved the establishment of 'Artificial Intelligence Student Societies' (AI Clubs) in 100 selected schools nationwide, targeting students in grades 6 to 9 and projected to reach approximately 300,000 students islandwide. The programme is a joint undertaking of the Ministry of Technology and the Ministry of Education, delivered with partners including Microsoft, AIClub, SLASSCOM, IronOne and Boardpac.

Activities

Students engage in AI-concept learning, hands-on capability-building, and creative projects exploring AI use cases. Microsoft has committed to training 100 teachers from the selected schools, with additional teacher support from AIClub and SLASSCOM. Officials have stated an intention to expand AI Clubs to all of Sri Lanka's schools if the pilot succeeds.

Conclusions

As of publication, the initiative remains in its early pilot phase: no independent evaluation of learning outcomes, teacher-training completion rates, or student participation has yet been published, and reporting to date documents the programme's launch and design rather than measured results. The 300,000-student figure describes pilot capacity rather than confirmed enrolment.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Low (< €50k) — Delivered via public-private partnership (Microsoft, AIClub, SLASSCOM, IronOne, Boardpac); no government budget figure disclosed.
Time to results
Short (< 1 year) — Cabinet-approved 21 August 2024; pilot phase ongoing as of the record date, with stated intent to expand nationwide if successful.
Staffing & skills
Ministry of Technology (Sri Lanka) programme team, Ministry of Education (Sri Lanka) programme team, Microsoft trainers (committed to training 100 teachers), AIClub and SLASSCOM curriculum/teacher-support partners, IronOne and Boardpac as additional private-sector partners

Conditions for success

  • Microsoft, AIClub and SLASSCOM actually delivering the committed teacher training
  • Selection of schools reaching underserved areas, not just already well-resourced ones (currently undocumented)
  • Publishing an evaluation of the 100-school pilot before deciding on nationwide expansion

Common failure modes

  • No independent evaluation of learning outcomes, teacher-training completion, or student participation has been published
  • No data on whether selected schools include underserved areas
  • The ~300,000 students figure describes pilot capacity/projection, not confirmed enrolment or completion

Where it fits

Governance type
national government cabinet-approved pilot with public-private partnership
Scale
100-school pilot, grades 6-9, ~300,000 students projected
Income level
lower-middle-income

Commonly funded by

National / regional programmes

Indicative funding routes for practices of this type — always check each programme's current calls and eligibility rules.

Do you run this practice? Claim it — verified implementers get a public contact pathway and can propose corrections.

Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

Similar practices you may find useful