Year: 2026 | Month: August | Volume 17 | Issue 2
Beyond the Access Paradox: Infrastructure, Epistemic Friction, and Inclusive Pedagogy in the GenAI-Enabled Landscape of Indian Rural Classrooms
Rajib Roson Ghosal¹*
Bhavna Joshi² and Isha Varshney³
DOI:10.30954/2230-7311.2.2026.6
Abstract:
The rapid expansion of India’s digital infrastructure has transformed the means of acquiring, producing, and disseminating knowledge. However, the emergence of an increasingly artificial-intelligence-driven digital society has not bridged the rural-digital divide. The growing availability of smartphones, internet connectivity, and 5G networks has instead created an “access paradox.” This paper identifies digital inclusion in rural learning environments as a gradual and continuous process of infrastructural adaptation. According to the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER), National Digital Infrastructure Development and the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 policy framework, first-tier barriers such as unreliable power, network instability, hardware limitations and affordability are largely directly related to second-tier barriers such as uneven digital skills and teacher training, pedagogic approaches, linguistic constraints, and differences in household and group-level digital literacy. This disparity is largely linked to linguistic, cultural, pedagogical and experiential knowledge systems, which create epistemological asymmetries. Such asymmetries are particularly significant in rural classrooms, where limited capacity to evaluate, adapt, produce and meaningfully use knowledge acquired through digital means can coexist. This paper explores the dual potential of GenAI. While technological, linguistic, algorithmic, and infrastructural barriers can reproduce inequality, GenAI can also enrich a platform for inclusive education through personalised learning, local language translation, knowledge mediation, heterogeneous instructional support, and teacher support. The paper emphasises that GenAI can never be a substitute for a teacher, primary education, or situational knowledge. However, it can serve as a tool for local identity formation and for expanding participation. Accordingly, the paper establishes a participatory and community-centred model of GenAI-enabled rural education with the goal of epistemological equity, social justice, and human empowerment.Keywords: AI-Integrated
Print This Article Email This Article to Your Friend
