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CBSE AI curriculum 2026-27, Classes 3 to 8: what schools must arrange

Q: Is the CBSE AI curriculum compulsory for all schools?

CBSE s circular of 1 April 2026, sent to all affiliated schools, introduces the curriculum for Classes 3 to 8 from 2026 27 and advises every school to implement it. The circulars do not call it optional, so we would plan as if it applies to your school.

From the 2026–27 session, CBSE has added Computational Thinking and Artificial Intelligence to Classes 3 to 8. In the primary classes it lives inside maths. In Classes 6 to 8 it needs time on the timetable, a computer teacher and two projects a year. Here is what that means for your school.

By iVakeFor principals, academic coordinators and computer teachers · Published 21 September 2026

Checked against official notices on 21 September 2026.

On 1 April 2026, CBSE wrote to every affiliated school to introduce a curriculum in Computational Thinking (CT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) for Classes 3 to 8 from the 2026–27 session, and asked all schools to put it in place. Resource books followed on 9 April 2026.

Thinking skills come first; AI topics start only in Class 6. For a school, that means two different jobs: a light one in the primary classes, and a real timetable change in the middle school.

The short versionClasses 3 to 5 get no new subject: CT is taught inside Maths and The World Around Us (TWAU), with a resource book that follows the maths chapters. Classes 6 to 8 get 100 hours a year: 40 of CT alongside maths, 20 of AI with the computer teacher, and 40 of projects. In practice, the 60 hours of AI and projects are what you have to find room for.

What the CBSE AI curriculum for 2026-27 says

Who it covers. Classes 3 to 8 in CBSE schools, from 2026–27. CBSE’s stated aim is AI-literate learners by 2030.
How much time. 50 hours a year in Classes 3 to 5, and 100 in Classes 6 to 8. CBSE calls this a suggested, flexible allocation, and schools can go beyond it.
No textbook. Student and teacher resource books, not textbooks. They follow the chapter order of the NCERT Mathematics textbooks, with TWAU concepts woven in, and CBSE asks schools to download and use them.
No set platform. Schools choose the software for projects. The curriculum recommends free and open-source tools.

How the computational thinking curriculum builds from Class 3 to Class 8

Read left to right: thinking skills come first, and AI arrives only in Class 6. The hours, the three-way split and who teaches each part come from CBSE’s curriculum and its teacher handbooks. CBSE calls the hours a suggested, flexible allocation, and it does not prescribe periods per week. Whether the AI and project hours get their own periods, and how, is your decision.

Classes 3 to 5: inside Maths and TWAU

Each class has a resource book with the same chapters as the maths textbook and CT questions in each, used as the matching concept is taught. Every year practises four skills, with harder problems each time: abstract thinking (views of 3-D objects, shapes after flips and turns), pattern recognition, decomposition (breaking a problem into clues) and algorithmic thinking (following step-by-step rules). The stage also covers basic computer familiarity, internet safety and block-based coding such as Scratch.

The AI syllabus in Classes 6, 7 and 8

The 40 hours of CT carry on the same way, alongside the maths textbook. The AI part is new: four five-hour units in each class.

Class 6. What AI is and how it differs from automation; kinds of data; spotting patterns and making simple decisions; online safety, privacy, passwords and digital footprints.
Class 7. Classification, regression and clustering on a small dataset with AI tools; computer vision, language processing and data science; charts; bias in AI.
Class 8. The stages of an AI project; simple no-code AI tools; bias in data; privacy, misinformation and responsible use.

The other 40 hours are interdisciplinary projects drawing on maths, science, social studies and English. The teacher handbooks for Classes 6, 7 and 8 each split this into two projects of 20 hours.

What your school has to arrange

In the table below, the first three columns come from CBSE. The last column is our suggestion.

CT and AI in Classes 3 to 8: hours a year, who teaches each part, and what the school arranges
Part	Hours a year	Who teaches it	What you arrange
Classes 3–5: CT in Maths and TWAU	50	Maths and other subject teachers, in regular lessons	Download the books; give maths teachers time to plan the CT questions into each chapter
Classes 6–8: advanced CT	40	Subject teachers, with a book that follows the maths textbook	Agree who owns it in each section, usually the maths teacher
Classes 6–8: AI literacy	20	Computer teacher	Periods on the timetable, lab or device time, and a check on the computer teacher’s load
Classes 6–8: projects	40 (two of 20)	Subject teachers together; the computer teacher assesses	Project blocks on the calendar, one shared rubric, one coordinator per class

Timetable periods for Classes 6 to 8

CBSE gives hours a year, not periods a week, so the arithmetic is yours. At 40-minute periods, 20 hours of AI is 30 periods a year, under one a week. The 40 project hours are another 60 periods. Together that is about 90 periods, or two to three a week, depending on how many teaching weeks you count.

Our suggestions, not CBSE rules: an existing computer period can carry part of the AI units, and projects often work better as blocks, such as a project week each term, than as a thin weekly period.

Who teaches it, and how they are trained

In Classes 6 to 8, subject teachers take the CT resources, the computer teacher takes AI literacy and assesses the projects, and CBSE says this needs teachers of different subjects to work together. Count the computer teacher’s load early. Three sections in each of Classes 6, 7 and 8 make nine sections: at 20 hours each, 180 hours of AI teaching a year, or 270 forty-minute periods, before any project marking.

For training, CBSE held a webinar for teachers of Classes 3 to 8 on 28 April 2026, and the teacher handbooks explain each chapter. They ask teachers to guide with prompts rather than give answers. Our suggestion: have your maths teachers work through a chapter together before using it in class.

Devices, labs and unplugged work

CBSE’s circular of 9 April 2026 names unplugged learning as part of the curriculum, and much of the primary work is worksheets, games and puzzles. Data work in Classes 6 to 8 can be done with digital tools or by hand. But the AI units use AI tools, including no-code tools in Class 8, so those periods need a lab or devices. Check lab slots against your sections before building the timetable, and check what any free online tool does with pupils’ data.

How it shows in assessment and on the progress card

CBSE wants continuous, competency-based assessment rather than tests of memory. In Classes 3 to 5 it is linked to Maths and TWAU: written tests with CT puzzles, group activities and a teacher observation journal. Classes 6 to 8 add practical exams, thematic projects, reflective journals and group discussions, marked against clear rubrics.

The documents we checked set no report-card format or weighting for CT and AI. Our suggestion: in Classes 3 to 5, show CT as a line or remark within Maths. In Classes 6 to 8, give CT and AI its own entry, with projects, practicals and written work as separate components.

A term-by-term starting plan

This is our suggestion, not a CBSE schedule. It assumes you are starting part-way through the 2026–27 session.

Now: take stock. Download the books for each class, find out what has been taught since April, and work out the computer teacher’s AI load.
Term 2: get every class moving. Maths teachers use the CT questions chapter by chapter from where they are. Put at least one AI period a week on the Class 6 to 8 timetable.
Before the session ends: one project per class. Run one of the two projects in each of Classes 6, 7 and 8 as a block, marked against a shared rubric.
Before April 2027: plan the full year. Build all 100 hours into the 2027–28 timetable, with the two projects in different terms, and settle the progress-card format before the first assessment.

If you do one thingCount your sections in Classes 6 to 8 and multiply by 20 hours. That is your computer teacher’s new AI load for the year, before projects. If it does not fit, it is better to know in September than in March.

Where it leads: Classes 9 to 12

Above Class 8, CBSE offers Artificial Intelligence as a skill subject; its Class 9 curriculum (code 417) is published for 2026–27. CBSE’s circular of 9 April 2026 also says “all other courses on AI” run until 2025–26 are being discontinued for Class 9 from 2026–27, that Class 10 in 2026–27 continues with the earlier scheme, and that NCERT will provide CT and AI modules for Classes 9 to 12 for internal assessment. If you offer AI in Class 9, confirm with CBSE how these fit.

How iVake handles it

iVake does not teach computational thinking or AI. Your teachers do, from CBSE’s books. What iVake takes off your hands is the administration around them.

The AI and project periods for Classes 6 to 8 go on the timetable like any other subject. Teacher availability, workload and rooms are checked as each period is placed, so an AI period can land in the lab and nobody is booked in two places. The computer teacher’s load is counted from the timetable across every section, with a warning past the limit you set, and syllabus completion is followed against the timetable through the year.

In the gradebook, CT and AI can be added as a subject with its own weighted components, such as projects, practicals and written work, and a grade scale set for each class. Report cards are drawn from those marks together with attendance and teacher remarks, and parents see published marks and remarks in the app during the term. Worksheets and notes can reach a section through an LMS course, with students enrolled from the record.

Fit the new periods into your timetable

Frequently asked questions

Is the CBSE AI curriculum compulsory for all schools?

CBSE’s circular of 1 April 2026, sent to all affiliated schools, introduces the curriculum for Classes 3 to 8 from 2026–27 and advises every school to implement it. The circulars do not call it optional, so we would plan as if it applies to your school.

How many hours does the CBSE AI curriculum need?

CBSE suggests 50 hours a year in Classes 3 to 5, inside Maths and TWAU, and 100 in Classes 6 to 8: 40 hours of CT, 20 of AI and 40 of projects. The allocation is flexible, and schools can go beyond it.

What does the AI curriculum cover in Class 3?

No AI topics as such. Class 3 builds computational thinking inside Maths and TWAU: simple patterns, breaking a problem into two or three clues, following step-by-step rules and working with shapes and views of objects. AI topics start in Class 6.

What is in the CBSE AI syllabus for Class 6?

Twenty hours in four five-hour units: an introduction to AI with everyday examples, basic data concepts, simple pattern recognition and decision-making, and ethics and digital responsibility. Alongside that, Class 6 has 40 hours of CT linked to the maths textbook and two interdisciplinary projects.

Is there a textbook for CT and AI?

No. CBSE has published student and teacher resource books for each class on its academic website. They are companions to the NCERT Mathematics textbooks, in the same chapter order, and CBSE asks schools to download and use them.

Sources

AI in an education ERP Timetable management The Holistic Progress Card

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