Mr. Patil: Dr. Malpani, good to see you again. I’ve been following your work at Teach to Earn and Apni Pathshala. Very refreshing ideas on learner-centric education. What brings you to Delhi this time?
Dr. Malpani: Thank you, Mr. Patil. It’s always a pleasure to speak with someone who is as committed to education reform as you are. I’ve come to talk about DIKSHA — more specifically, how we can make it far more effective and friendly for our actual end users: students.
Mr. Patil: DIKSHA is one of our flagship platforms — over 10 crore users, lakhs of resources, and completely free. We’ve put a lot of effort into it. What do you think is missing?
Dr. Malpani: Exactly — the content is rich, but the interface is not intuitive. It’s built for administrators and educators, not for a 13-year-old child exploring her curiosity. You expect a student to search through menus, click filters, and guess keywords. That’s a bit much, don’t you think?
Mr. Patil: We do receive feedback that it’s overwhelming. But we’re constantly improving. Are you suggesting a redesign?
Dr. Malpani: Not a redesign. A conversational layer on top. A smart chatbot that can guide students through DIKSHA like a friendly tutor would — answering questions, recommending resources, and nudging self-directed learning.
Mr. Patil: You mean like a ChatGPT for DIKSHA?
Dr. Malpani: Precisely! Imagine a student types in: “I want to learn how to create a robot,” and the chatbot replies, “Great! Would you like to begin with electronics or coding?” It then pulls curated modules from DIKSHA, links videos, and even gives mini quizzes. This turns passive browsing into active learning.
Mr. Patil: Interesting. But isn’t that expensive to build and maintain?
Dr. Malpani: That’s the best part. We’re happy to build and deploy the first version completely free of cost. We have the technology, the team, and the intent. All we need is your blessing and access to the DIKSHA API.
Mr. Patil: You’re willing to offer this to the government at no cost?
Dr. Malpani: Yes, because we believe the return on investment is national. Every child deserves a smart learning assistant. Private EdTech companies are racing ahead, but we must ensure that our public platforms are equally competitive, especially for the underprivileged. DIKSHA is a diamond — we just need to polish it.
Mr. Patil: But will rural children be able to use this? We still have digital access issues.
Dr. Malpani: Which is why this chatbot will work across platforms — web, WhatsApp, even voice-enabled where possible. And we’ll design it in regional languages. A child in Gadchiroli should be able to ask, “माझं गणित समजत नाही. मी काय करू?” and the bot should say, “चिंता करू नकोस. हे सोपं व्हिडिओ पहिलेस का?”
Mr. Patil: That’s powerful. But what’s the end goal? Just better discovery?
Dr. Malpani: Better engagement, better learning outcomes, and ultimately, more autonomous learners. When students are guided by curiosity, not pressure, they learn for life — not just for exams.
Mr. Patil: I must admit, this is one of the most actionable and aligned ideas I’ve heard in a while. What’s your proposed next step?
Dr. Malpani: Allow us access to the DIKSHA backend and API documentation. We’ll create a pilot chatbot trained on the DIKSHA library, and we’ll run it with a few hundred students across our Teach to Earn pods. You can evaluate the results and decide whether to scale nationally.
Mr. Patil: And if we wanted to integrate it later into official systems?
Dr. Malpani: We’ll be happy to work with your tech teams to do that seamlessly. Our goal isn’t branding or ownership — it’s impact. You’re already sitting on the content goldmine. We just want to help unlock it — one question at a time.
Mr. Patil: Alright, Dr. Malpani. Let’s get my team in touch with yours. Let’s build this and make DIKSHA a platform where children don’t feel lost — they feel seen.
Dr. Malpani: Thank you, Mr. Patil. I genuinely believe this small change can make a big difference. Students want to learn — let’s not get in their way.
Takeaway: Our children don’t need more textbooks — they need more guidance, more conversation, more agency. And we can give it to them, by making DIKSHA talk back — in their language, at their level, on their terms.
Let’s do this together. Let’s make DIKSHA India’s most loved learning companion.