10 September,2026 08:11 AM IST | Mumbai | Aditi Alurkar
The guidelines recommend teaching students pattern recognition and algorithmic and critical thinking. Representation Pic/iStock
While cities such as New York have already restricted the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) for younger school students, educators in Mumbai have acknowledged the technology seeping into everyday lives and curricula.
With many schools, colleges, and other educational institutions still set on limiting or doing away with AI altogether, the Early Childhood Association (ECA), a non-profit organisation, has released guidelines for parents and schools to help children understand AI without becoming completely immersed in the still-evolving technology.
The guidelines recommend teaching students pattern recognition, algorithmic thinking, and critical thinking. Representation pic/iStock
The guidelines ask parents of younger children, aged three to eight, to explain that AI is a âhuman-created tool and helper, not a leader or replacement for people'. Parents have been recommended to ask children to think before using AI and take the AI-generated answers as mere suggestions.
[popcorn number="5000" desc="No of parents surveyed by ECA" class="Default"]
As for schools, the guide encourages teachers to debunk all the myths surrounding AI with the help of songs, games, and other offline efforts like role-play and classroom activities. In the tech-led age, students have also been asked to focus on relationships before screens, encouraged to be curious, to think before answering, while teachers can stress how it is ultimately humans who have developed this software.
Teaching students pattern recognition, algorithmic thinking, and critical thinking through these ages is another way they can learn to use AI without being completely dependent on it, stated the guide. Educators have also been advised to touch upon privacy and safety.
"We did a survey with 5000 parents and found that 71 per cent used AI during an interaction with the child, and sometimes it was even used as a babysitter. So even when you keep AI out of schools, the young ones are bound to run into it," said Swati Popat Vats, who heads the ECA.
"While we don't encourage classrooms to use AI, this toolkit helps students to develop parallely with AI while learning to be careful around it. It's similar to teaching road and traffic safety to young ones; they may not cross the road themselves, but they still need to understand the rules," she added.
Sharmila Lele, headmistress, Cathedral and John Connon Infant School, said, "It is crucial to guide students through all the new avenues they may be faced with. We are working on creating an AI policy across the school, explaining all the dos and don'ts. While our younger students don't directly use AI, their work is balanced between pen and paper and digital screens. The moment our older students learn about these technologies, a teacher is helping them through it."
Sujata Khare, education officer, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, said, "In Mumbai public schools, the students are typically introduced to technology and its dos and don'ts in Std V-VI. Given the diverse background of our students, their exposure to AI and phones at home also remains limited. However, we do run cyber safety and technology awareness classes within schools and through external partnerships."
