The future of a nation is shaped not just by the opportunities it creates for its young people, but by how well it prepares every child to seize them. As artificial intelligence, digital technologies, and changing job markets redefine the skills needed for tomorrow, ensuring that every child has equal access to quality education, digital safety, and future-ready learning has become more important than ever.
In this exclusive interview, Anand Vishwakarma, Executive Director of ChildFund India, shares the vision behind the organisation's stakeholder convening, "Catalysing Partnerships for Children, Youth, and Communities," and explains why collaboration is essential to building an inclusive future for India's children and youth. He discusses the challenges of youth employability, the role of AI and EdTech in education, the need to bridge the digital divide, and the importance of competency-based learning. The conversation also highlights ChildFund India's work on online child safety, responsible AI, youth participation in policymaking, and initiatives that empower girls, rural youth, and out-of-school children with the skills and confidence needed to thrive in a rapidly changing world.
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Q. What is your vision behind this stakeholder convening, and what gaps are you trying to address through it?
A. Our vision for this stakeholder convening is to enable a future where every child and young person is equipped not just to adapt to a rapidly evolving technological landscape, but to truly thrive within it. As AI and digital technologies reshape how children learn, interact, and prepare for livelihoods, the aim is to catalyse a more holistic, inclusive, and future-ready ecosystem that supports their overall development.
At its core, the convening sought to address existing gaps by bringing diverse actors together to foster integrated thinking and enable more cohesive, actionable collaboration that caters to the holistic needs of children and youth. It focused on looking at the larger picture, advancing the inclusive development of children and youth, rather than working through fragmented interventions across learning, mental health, social behaviour, and livelihoods.
Children today are growing up in a deeply technological world, with over 82% of adolescents (14–16 years) in India already using smartphones, making digital exposure nearly universal. Technology has become central to learning, health, safety, social behaviour, and livelihood pathways. In response, stakeholders across sectors are undertaking important efforts within their respective domains.
Key issues such as shifting learning trajectories, rising mental health concerns, increasing online risks, evolving social behaviours, and the need for meaningful livelihood opportunities are deeply interconnected, yet interventions often remain siloed. This is further compounded by the fact that a large proportion of children and young people live in rural and smaller-city contexts, where challenges and access to solutions differ significantly from urban settings and require equally robust, context-specific approaches.
At this critical juncture, what is needed is bold, coordinated action, combining strong government leadership, responsible use of technology, community engagement, and civil society advocacy to build a future where every child is not only prepared to adapt, but empowered to thrive.
Q. India has over 600 million people under 25, yet employability gaps remain a major challenge, especially for marginalised youth. What are the biggest barriers, and how are you working to close them?
A. India stands at a critical juncture, with over 600 million people under the age of 25, one of the largest youth populations globally. While this presents a powerful demographic dividend, it is accompanied by a growing challenge: rising educated unemployment and declining labour force participation among youth. A key concern is the widening gap between education and employability—many young people, particularly from marginalised backgrounds, are not equipped with modern, industry-relevant skills. The skills and knowledge that youth possess often do not align with evolving industry trends, including the growing demand for digital and emerging competencies such as AI. Additionally, there is a pressing need to introduce exposure to skills and career readiness from an early age in school curriculum, as expressed in the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.
Barriers such as limited access to quality education and vocational training, especially in rural and underserved areas, inadequate digital access, and low exposure to technology-driven learning continue to restrict opportunities. While India has over 800 million internet users, overall penetration remains uneven at around 55%, with a stark rural–urban divide (approximately 55% in rural areas versus 85% in urban areas), limiting equitable access to digital learning and opportunities. Socio-economic constraints and gender norms further push vulnerable youth into informal, low-paying work, while limited exposure to career pathways, professional networks, and practical experiences such as internships or apprenticeships hampers job readiness.
To address these challenges, we are working to bridge the gap between learning and livelihoods through integrated skilling pathways that combine foundational education, digital literacy, and life skills with exposure to modern and future-oriented skills. Our approach emphasises localised access, industry partnerships, and experiential learning, particularly for disadvantaged communities. By strengthening not just technical capabilities but also confidence, adaptability, and aspiration, we aim to enable young people to transition into sustainable livelihoods and participate meaningfully in an evolving economy.
Q. AI and EdTech can improve access to learning but also risk widening the digital divide. How do you make sure equity is built in from the start?
A. Technology is only as good as the child it reaches. At ChildFund India, we have always believed that digital tools must follow the child, not the other way around. That is why our PENCIL Program does not start with devices or platforms. It starts with the teacher, the community, and the question: what does this child actually need?
We design for the last mile first. Whether we are working in a remote school in Jharkhand or a low-income urban neighbourhood, we ask whether the infrastructure exists, whether the teacher is confident, and whether the content is in a language and format the child recognises. Technology gets layered in only when that foundation is ready.
A small but telling example: in one of our programme districts, we found that children had access to tablets but were using them only to watch videos passively. The device was there, but the pedagogy was not. We went back, retrained the teachers, restructured the sessions around guided discovery, and the difference in engagement was immediate. That experience reinforced something we now treat as a core principle: access without readiness is not access at all.
That approach has helped us reach children who would otherwise have been left further behind every time a new EdTech solution rolled out for schools with better connectivity and more resourced teachers. Equity is not a feature you add at the end. It has to be the design brief from day one.
Q. How do you move from rote learning to competency-based education, and build skills like critical thinking and digital literacy alongside technical training?
A. This is honestly one of the most exciting shifts we are seeing in the field right now, and also one of the hardest to get right.
Our SciXplore STEM Edge Program is built on the idea that children learn science best by doing science. Every session is structured around inquiry, observation, and peer discussion, not around copying notes off a board. When a child in a government school builds a working model to understand a concept, or debates with a classmate about why an experiment produced a certain result, something shifts. They stop waiting for the right answer and start generating their own questions.
Alongside technical skills, we intentionally build in moments for collaboration, communication, and reflection through our GRIT module, a 21st century skills curriculum we have developed for children and youth. GRIT stands for Growth, Resilience, Interaction, and Thinking. It sits alongside our subject-based programmes and creates space for children to work through real-world challenges, practice creative problem-solving, and build the social and emotional muscles that no textbook exercise can develop on its own. A child who learns to persist through a failed experiment, regroup with peers, and try again is developing exactly the kind of adaptability that the future of work will demand.
Digital literacy is woven through all of this, but always in service of a real task, not as a standalone module. The goal is a child who can think, adapt, and solve problems they have never seen before. That is the competency that actually matters for the world they are entering.
Q. Your study on online safety (OSEAC report) found that some children had befriended strangers online, with a few meeting them in person or sharing personal details. What did this tell you, and how are you responding?
A. Our findings highlighted a concerning gap between awareness and behaviour. While many children are familiar with basic online safety guidelines, some still engage in risky interactions, such as befriending strangers, sharing personal information, or even meeting online contacts offline. This suggests that awareness alone is not enough; social, emotional, and contextual factors significantly shape how children navigate digital spaces.
In response, we have adopted a comprehensive and systemic approach. We aim to reach every child and location with internet connectivity. To safeguard children from online crimes and ensure that no child experiences online abuse or exploitation, we have partnered with State Commissions for Protection of Child Rights, state police, local child protection bodies, and communities to strengthen the overall protection ecosystem. Our efforts focus on building awareness, enhancing capacity, and improving stakeholders’ ability to identify early signs and symptoms of distress in children.
At the same time, we are focusing on prevention first, while simultaneously strengthening response mechanisms to ensure that any cases are handled with the utmost care and sensitivity. We continue to equip children with critical digital literacy and resilience skills, while engaging parents, educators, and communities to create safer and more supportive digital environments.
Ultimately, our approach emphasizes prevention, early identification, and collective responsibility—ensuring that online safety is addressed comprehensively and inclusively.
Q. Children and youth co-drafted the Children & Youth Vision Charter in Ranchi this January, asking for responsible AI and a voice in policy. How are these demands being taken forward?
A. The AI Charter drafted by children and youth in Ranchi is a powerful example of meaningful youth participation in shaping the future of technology governance. Since January, efforts to take these demands forward have focused on three key areas: advocacy, policy engagement, and capacity-building. We chose to release the AI Charter during the multi-stakeholder convening so that policymakers and implementers could directly engage with it, understand its urgency, and help drive it forward.
First, the Charter is being used as a tool to amplify young people’s vision in national and global conversations on AI. Organizations and youth representatives presented the Charter in policy dialogues, consultations, and forums to ensure that decision-makers understand young people’s expectations around responsible, inclusive, and children and youth approach to AI.
Second, there is ongoing engagement with policymakers and institutions. Stakeholders are working to integrate the Charter’s recommendations into existing and emerging AI frameworks—particularly around issues such as data privacy, safety, transparency, and accountability. Importantly, there is a strong push to institutionalize mechanisms that allow children and youth to have a formal voice in policy processes, rather than being consulted only once.
Third, the process has sparked continued capacity-building and mobilization among young people. Follow-up workshops, awareness initiatives, and youth networks are helping expand understanding of AI and digital rights, enabling more young voices to engage critically and constructively with these issues.
Overall, the Charter is not being treated as a one-time document but as a living advocacy platform, guiding sustained engagement, building momentum for youth-led participation, and ensuring that AI development aligns with the rights, safety, and aspirations of younger generations. It may be a long journey ahead, but taking the first step was essential.
Q. Looking ahead, what are your priorities for preparing young people "especially girls, out-of-school children, and rural youth" for a changing job market?
A. First, confidence before content. A girl who has been told her whole life that certain fields are not for her does not need a coding curriculum first. She needs to see herself differently. Our Udaan Fellowship Program, focused to support girls aspiring to get higher education, works precisely on this layer. We invest in adolescent girls not just as future workers but as young women who have the right to dream, decide, and lead. When that belief takes root, everything else becomes possible.
Second, reintegration before skilling. Out-of-school children cannot be prepared for a job market they have not re-entered the education system to access. Our work with JEPC on out-of-school children in Jharkhand focuses first on bringing them back into learning pathways, building their foundational skills, and then creating bridges to vocational and life skills opportunities.
Third, relevance to local livelihoods. Rural youth are not a problem to be solved by shipping them to cities. They need skills that are meaningful in their own contexts, whether that is agri-tech, local enterprise, or community health. Our programmes increasingly try to connect skills training to what is actually growing economically in the geographies where young people already live.
The job market will keep changing. What we owe young people is the adaptability to meet it, wherever it goes.
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