In a country where government schools are often looked down upon for their lack of infrastructure and efficiency, here is an exception: a school in Karnataka is equipped with AI tools, drones, robotics kits, and many more. The man behind this initiative is a teacher who is on a mission to bring global standards to government school classrooms.Meet 42-year-old Madhusudhan K S, a science teacher at a government high school in Hinkal, located on the outskirts of Mysuru, who aims to elevate government school classrooms on a par with the private schools of the region.Once a student of Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya Kodagu, Madhusudhan, with 18 years of experience, has changed the classrooms. This school now uses the Learning Management System (LMS) to follow the attendance, syllabus, and performance of the students, which allows it to keep a track.Turning Covid crisis into opportunity When the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown hit globally, and the schools shifted to online classes, Madusudhan turned the crisis into an opportunity to transform the teaching methodology and classrooms.Madhusudhan, who was working as a resource person with the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), was more engaged in content creation for children across Karnataka. Little did he know that his own students were facing problems.“I am good with technical things and technology, but never thought of introducing it. Though I had started a small studio in 2019 in school, I was not more engaged. But when I returned to school after finishing the NCERT work, I was shocked to see the performance of Class 6 and 7 students in Science. I asked other teachers, and they also said that the students were not doing well in their subjects. While Covid-19 was one among the reasons, there were other factors too. Then, I started visiting more schools, speaking to teachers, experts, and education enthusiasts,” he said.Madhusudan’s quest to find answers yielded some results. “If I have to summarise it, all are only worried when Class 10 results are out. Till then, no one really cares about the quality of the education. Some of the teachers said that many of the students did not even know how to read or write when they were in high school,” he said.Story continues below this adThen Madhusudhan decided that one cannot expect a better outcome if the foundation for the students was not provided properly. He then chose to teach students from Classes 1 to 5.“I wanted to make education interesting for these children who should be able to not only compete with but dominate among children studying in private schools,” he said.Madhusudan decided to bring a difference in teaching methods and started reading more about methods used in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA).Equipped with his personal experience at Navodaya, Madhusudan felt that experiential learning would be the foundation, and it would inculcate life skills, Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education, and Spoken English as part of the curriculum.Dealing with the Spoken English challengeStory continues below this adTeaching life skills to government school children may not be difficult, but Spoken English was a bigger challenge. To address this, Madhusudan invited foreigners living near his residence in Mysuru to interact with the students. Mysuru, often called the yoga capital, attracts thousands of foreign nationals who stay for months, and sometimes years, to learn the art. Fortunately, many of them lived close to Madhusudan’s neighbourhood, making it easier for him to involve them in the initiative.“The reason for introducing English was to instill confidence among the students and make them feel they are no less than others,” he says.STEM education and government schoolsThe next challenge was introducing STEM education in a government school — a task Madhusudan describes as particularly difficult. “When I speak about my students, please remember that many of them are first-generation learners. Creating interest in STEM subjects among them was not easy,” he said. Madhusudhan K S assisting a student at the AI lab as part of his experiential learning methodology (Express photo)To support the initiative, Madhusudan used his savings and also raised funds from friends and family members.Story continues below this adBy 2023, Madhusudan established C Lounge (Camp, Create, Celebrate), a school makerspace equipped with robotics kits, a 3D printer, drone technology, and AI tools. This initiative has provided a platform for students to engage in real-world challenges, such as designing robots for problem-solving, exploring drone applications, and developing sustainable projects like grey water purification systems. The AI-integrated smart boards of the school were a real game-changer.It did not take much time for the government high school of Hinkal to gain attention as the students started to make their mark in the exhibitions held at the district level and started to compete with the private school children. “I am very confident that these students would do well when they go to higher studies. Their foundation is much better,” Madhusudan says.On September 5, 2025, Madhusudhan received the national award for the best teacher from President Droupadi Murmu for using AI and technology in teaching. In the same year, he also received the best teacher award from the Karnataka Government.Meaningful revolution in primary educationAt present, five schools associated with Madhusudan have adopted STEM education into their curriculum, with support and funding from NGOs.Story continues below this ad“My vision is to spark a meaningful revolution in primary education by transforming 100 schools every year into vibrant hubs of creativity and innovation. I believe every child deserves opportunities that nurture imagination, critical thinking, and real-world problem-solving skills,” he said.Now, the government high school at Hinkal is all ready to welcome its new Virtual Reality (VR) and Robotics laboratory, which will be unveiled within a month.