India’s Digital Dream: Why Every Child Needs a Laptop More Than Corporates Need Loan Waivers

India’s education landscape is rapidly shifting towards digitisation and artificial intelligence, at least on paper, as the government announces progressive policies such as “Digitisation & AI to be part of curriculum” and launches platforms like DIKSHA 2.0—responsive, adaptive, and touted as revolutionary for digital learning. Yet, for millions of students in government schools, these promises sound visionary but remain far removed from reality.

Connecting Hype with Ground Realities

While policymakers highlight futuristic reforms and pitch AI-powered tools that translate lessons into twelve Indian languages, most rural students still struggle for the basics: functioning classrooms, accessible textbooks, reliable electricity, and internet. In elite schools—often private—technology access is routine, but the average government school rarely has enough computers for even a fraction of students. The gap between “vision” and “implementation” grows wider with every press release.

Imagining Change Beyond Speeches

Picture this: Every student, whether in a city or a remote village, has a laptop designed to protect their eyes. Not a borrowed device, but one they can use daily to access lessons, assessments, even communicate in their own language. The government has shown that it can mobilize enormous financial resources; after all, it waives off billions in loans for corporations without batting an eyelid. If even a fraction of those funds were repurposed for genuine educational infrastructure—laptops, digital literacy, teacher training—the transformation would be extraordinary.

The Power of Priorities

Here’s the logic—the money lost in loan write-offs could empower entire cohorts of students for decades. Children with reliable devices would gain not just digital access but exposure to the tools reshaping every modern career path. This isn’t hypothetical; nations worldwide are making similar investments with proven results. By focusing resources where they matter—on children, not corporations—India could leapfrog challenges and nurture creative thinkers, not just rote learners.

Calling Out Empty Promises

If government priorities truly aligned with its rhetoric, every budget announcement would detail investments in student infrastructure, not subsidies for failing companies. The repeated emphasis on “technology-driven teaching and learning” must translate into laptops in the hands of children—not just slick websites and multilingual apps that sound impressive but mean little without the hardware to run them.

The Real Test

The coming years will reveal whether India’s leaders are content to give “motor mouth” speeches or are ready to connect policy to reality. Meaningful educational reform is possible—but only if funding supports actual change at the grassroots. A genuine commitment to “Samridhh Bharat by 2047” demands more than words; it demands laptops, equity, and bold choices. Otherwise, students will remain locked out of the future, while the promise of “digitisation and AI” remains just that—a promise.