IIT Madras and UNESCO MGIEP will build AI and immersive tools that turn school curricula into personalised learning paths with social and emotional skills.

Who is involved

IIT Madras signed the agreement with the UNESCO Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development (UNESCO MGIEP). IIT Madras announced it on 1 Sep 2026.

The signing took place in the presence of Prof Obijiofor Aginam, Director of UNESCO MGIEP, Prof Manu Santhanam, Dean (Industrial Consultancy and Sponsored Research) at IIT Madras, and Prof M Manivannan, Head of the Experiential Technology Innovation Centre (XTIC) at IIT Madras.

UNESCO MGIEP brings its work on social and emotional learning (SEL). IIT Madras brings AI, extended reality, game design and immersive technology.

What they plan to build

AI tools will read existing curricula and turn them into personalised, game-like learning paths with SEL built in. SEL will sit inside regular subjects rather than being taught as a separate subject.

Immersive tools aim to move classrooms from listening to doing, with real-time emotional feedback. A support framework will help teachers add SEL to lesson plans, activities and tests, and adapt it to their own setting.

The skills in focus are self-awareness, self-management, responsible decision-making, relationship building and social awareness.

Open and low-cost by design

Prof Aginam said the resulting AI is expected to be open-source and should "accelerate at scale the integration of SEL". He expects the models to be low-cost and to work in low-bandwidth settings, so learners need less constant internet access.

The partners say the work follows UNESCO's recommendations on AI ethics and supports UN Sustainable Development Goal 4.7.

What else is planned

The partnership also covers joint research in education technology, teaching methods, AI and learning science, plus faculty and researcher exchanges, workshops and conferences. IIT Madras did not give a timeline, funding amount, pilot sites or release dates for the tools.