In 2024, Tonk District faced a persistent educational crisis. Despite nearly 90% of Class 10 students aspiring to pursue science-based careers, less than 12% eventually made it to science streams. The culprit was poor mathematics performance, driven by systemic challenges: vacant teacher posts, insufficient subject expertise, high absenteeism, and widespread foundational gaps. Students from Hindi-medium government schools were the most affected, often lacking basic math skills from earlier classes.

Determined to disrupt this cycle, IAS Officer Saumya Jha spearheaded an innovative response under the Lakshya 2025 initiative. The result was PadhaiWithAI.in, an AI-powered personalised learning platform built to address teacher shortages, improve student performance, and democratise access to high-quality math practice. This first-of-its-kind district-led solution combined cutting-edge AI with localised, bilingual teaching support tailored to the realities of government classrooms.

A Learning Companion That Never Gets Tired

Unlike static question banks and online videos that were previously available, PadhaiWithAI became a real-time, interactive tutor. The platform could instantly solve textbook problems in Hindi or English, provide alternative solutions with every refresh, and generate unlimited practice questions of varying difficulty at the click of a button. For teachers, this meant less time spent preparing worksheets and more time guiding individual students.

The district rolled out a unified revision calendar, introducing two dedicated math periods per day. Classrooms followed a rhythm of concept explanations, AI-driven problem-solving, customised homework, and weekly district-wide tests. Attendance was closely monitored through the platform, with alerts sent to block-level officials when students were absent for more than two days. Students who struggled with foundational concepts were placed in short, targeted remedial tracks, with additional support until they achieved the required proficiency. This ecosystem created an inclusive learning cycle where no student was left behind.

The Numbers That Changed the Game

The intervention was short—just six weeks—but the results were extraordinary. In the 2025 board exams, Tonk’s Class 10 math pass rate soared to 96.4%, a three-percentage point improvement from the previous year. The proportion of first-division students jumped by five percentage points to over 28%, while the share of students scoring 80% and above rose by approximately two points. Unlike broader state-level trends, where most gains were concentrated in the minimum pass band, Tonk’s improvements were decisively in the high-performance categories.

A detailed comparison with Rajasthan’s overall results confirmed that these gains were not due to external factors like easier exams or lenient marking. While the state saw only a modest 1% improvement in pass rates, Tonk outpaced the state by a significant margin, particularly in the high-achieving student bracket. In just a few weeks, Tonk district not only closed the performance gap—it decisively surged ahead.

A Roadmap for Scaling India’s Learning Revolution

The success of PadhaiWithAI has demonstrated that even a brief, well-designed AI intervention can spark substantial academic gains, especially in underserved rural settings. The programme’s design—a blend of AI-powered personalised learning, continuous performance tracking, and smart classroom integration—offers a scalable model for other districts.

Looking ahead, there is strong potential to extend this approach to other subjects like English and Science, introduce student-level logins, and build AI-powered personalised remedial tracks that target specific conceptual errors. Expanding the programme to run throughout the academic year and starting from earlier grades could help students achieve deeper mastery before they reach board exam levels. It is not just a tool for Class 10, but a solution that can build stronger academic foundations across the school system.

By championing this initiative, Soumya Jha and the Tonk district administration have created a playbook that resonates with India’s national goals of foundational literacy, digital innovation, and educational equity under missions such as Viksit Bharat 2047 and NIPUN Bharat. This is not just a local success—it is a replicable blueprint for transforming learning outcomes across the country.