7 out of 10 teachers in India rate their own AI skills as good. Yet 4 out of 10 got a basic question about how AI works wrong (CENTA, 2025). For teachers using AI, the gap isn't the tool. It's what you tell it: your class, your board, your time, and where your students get stuck.
This is the difference between a lesson plan you rewrite from scratch and one you can use as it is. Below: what the numbers say, a brief you can copy for lesson plans, and the steps for a question paper that matches your syllabus.
See it done live: on Sunday I make a question paper and a lesson plan with AI, live, for a real chapter. See the dates for the teachers' session.
Teachers using AI in India: most already do
Teachers are not behind on AI. Most have already tried it.
| What was measured | Finding | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Teachers using AI tools in class | More than 70% (nearly 75% of teachers with over three years' experience) | CENTA survey of 5,000 educators, 2025 |
| What they use it for most | Lesson planning, the top use for close to 60% | CENTA, 2025 |
| How they rate their own AI skills | 67% rate themselves 6 or more out of 10 | CENTA, 2025 |
| A basic question about how AI works | Only 57% answered it correctly | CENTA, 2025 |
| Teachers using generative AI, by school type | Government-aided 68%, government 51%, private 40% | Central Square Foundation, BaSE 2025 (teachers who use edtech, lower-income settings) |
The CENTA founder put it plainly: there is "a clear gap between adoption and genuine comfort among teachers". In other words, the tools are in teachers' hands. Knowing how to brief them is what's missing.
Using AI is not the same as getting a good result
Type "Make a lesson plan on photosynthesis" and you get a page that could be for any class, any board and any school. It looks neat. It's rarely something you can teach from on Monday.
AI doesn't know your class. It doesn't know you have 40 minutes, a mixed group, and three students who still mix up roots and stems. It can only work from what you tell it. So the fix is not a better tool. It's a better brief.
A good brief has five parts:
- Who: class, board and level ("class 8, CBSE, mixed ability").
- What: the chapter and the one thing students must understand by the end.
- Time: how long the lesson is, and how it splits.
- Where students get stuck: the common mistakes you see every year.
- What you want back: the format (a timed plan, an activity, five check questions).
A lesson plan in 10 minutes: a brief you can copy
Here's an AI lesson plan brief for one lesson. Change the words in capitals for your own class.
You are helping a CLASS 8 CBSE science teacher. Make a 40-minute lesson plan on PHOTOSYNTHESIS. By the end, students must explain WHY PLANTS NEED SUNLIGHT, WATER AND CARBON DIOXIDE. The class is MIXED ABILITY; some students CONFUSE PHOTOSYNTHESIS WITH RESPIRATION. Give: a 5-minute opening question, a 15-minute explanation with one everyday example, a 10-minute group activity using things found in a classroom, and 5 check questions (2 easy, 2 medium, 1 hard) with answers. Use simple English.
Read what comes back. Then ask for one change at a time: "Make the activity work without a lab", "Add a Hindi explanation for the opening question". Two or three short follow-ups usually get you a plan you can use as it is.
A question paper that matches your syllabus
The same rule works for question papers: tell AI exactly what the paper is.
- Give the chapter list and the marks. "Class 9 science, chapters 1 to 3, 40 marks, 90 minutes."
- Give the mix. "8 one-mark questions, 6 two-mark, 4 three-mark, 2 five-mark. About 30% easy, 50% medium, 20% hard."
- Paste your own notes or the chapter's key points, so questions come from what you taught.
- Ask for the answer key and the marking points with the paper.
- Check every answer yourself. AI makes mistakes, especially in numbers and diagrams. You are the examiner; it is the assistant.
If you'd rather keep questions strictly to your own notes, a tool that answers only from the files you add, and shows where each answer came from, helps here: see what NotebookLM is and how to use it.
Making a question paper with AI is exactly what I do live in Sunday's session, for a real chapter, step by step.
What not to give AI
Some things should never go into an AI tool:
- Students' names, marks or personal details. Use "Student A" if you need an example.
- Final marks without checking. AI can suggest marking points. The marks are yours.
- Anything you couldn't defend to a parent. If you'd be uncomfortable explaining how it was made, don't use it as it is.
Fix your most time-consuming task first: for most teachers that's lesson plans or question papers. Get one of those working well before trying anything else.
CBSE has added AI to the curriculum for classes 3 to 8
CBSE's circular Acad-15/2026 introduced a computational thinking and AI curriculum for classes 3 to 8 from 2026-27, and asked every school to implement it. That means more teachers will be asked about AI by students, parents and principals, often before anyone has trained them.
In part 1 of this series, on children using AI, we saw that most students who use AI think it's a search engine. Teachers who know how to brief AI well are the ones who can show them the difference.
This article is part 2 of 4 in a series on the AI gap in Indian classrooms. Part 3, on schools, comes next week.
See it done live: the Sunday teachers' session
Every Sunday at 11 AM IST I run a one-hour live session on Zoom for teachers. This Sunday, 1 November, it's a question paper and a lesson plan in minutes: I take a real chapter and make both with AI, live, and answer your questions as we go.
- ₹999, 10 seats, replay for 48 hours if you can't join live.
- No technical knowledge needed.
I've spent 5 years coaching, including at colleges, and trained 10,000+ professionals (more about me). For training a group of teachers at your school, see coaching. Questions first? Message TEACHERS on WhatsApp.
FAQ
What are the best AI tools for teachers?
The tool matters less than the brief. Most general AI assistants can make a good lesson plan or question paper if you tell them the class, board, time, what students must learn and where they get stuck. Start with the one you already use.
Can AI make a question paper?
Yes. Give it the chapters, the marks, the mix of question types and difficulty, and your notes, and ask for an answer key. Always check every question and answer yourself before using the paper.
Is it okay for teachers to use AI for lesson plans?
Yes, as long as you check and adapt what it gives you. It saves time on the first draft; your knowledge of your class makes the plan work. Never put students' names or marks into an AI tool.
Will AI replace teachers?
No. AI can draft plans and questions, but it doesn't know your students, can't manage a classroom and makes mistakes that a teacher has to catch. Teachers who use it well get more time for teaching.
Do teachers need to pay for AI tools?
Not to start. The free versions of most AI assistants can make lesson plans and question papers. Paid plans add longer documents and more use per day, which some teachers find worth it later.
Sources
- CENTA, nationwide survey of 5,000 educators, reported in AI tools take centre stage in classrooms as NEP turns five (1 August 2025).
- Central Square Foundation, Bharat Survey for EdTech (BaSE) 2025: 15,000 respondents in lower-income settings across ten states, including 2,500 teachers.
- CBSE, Circular Acad-15/2026 (1 April 2026).
