Mumbai, Feb 19th: Reinforcing its commitment to India’s skill development vision and expanding equitable access to AI education, Amazon flagged off two AI Skills Vans as part of its Think Big initiative. These are mobile learning labs designed to bring foundational cloud computing and AI education directly to government school students and communities with limited access to emerging technology resources. The vans were flagged off by Shri Jayant Chaudhary, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship and Minister of State for Education, in New Delhi in the presence of David Zapolsky, Chief Global Affairs and Legal Officer, Amazon.
The mobile AI Skills Vans will be deployed across Delhi/NCR and Haryana, helping bridge access gaps in emerging technology education among government schools. Each van functions as a fully equipped mobile learning ecosystem delivering interactive, curriculum-aligned modules that introduces students to cloud technologies, AI fundamentals, computational thinking, and ethical AI principles, complementing formal science and technology education.
In 2026, the two vans are expected to directly engage more than 9,000 students and 100 teachers, supporting educators in integrating AI concepts into classroom instructions and building long-term institutional capacity within schools. The teacher training component is designed to in turn, create a multiplier impact, with trained educators expected to reach an additional 100,000 additional students over the next five years through classroom integration, peer learning networks, and teacher-led technology clubs.
Speaking on the occasion, Minister Jayant Chaudhary said, “India’s skilling journey is grounded in the belief that every young learner should have the tools and opportunities to shape their future. The AI Skills Van exemplifies this vision by taking foundational AI and cloud education directly to students. It is encouraging to see industry leaders like Amazon complement national skilling priorities not only through such initiatives, but also through their long-term investments in India’s digital and innovation ecosystem. This initiative supports our national missions, including Skill India and the AI Mission, by expanding access to future-ready digital skills and ensuring that no student is left behind as we build a skilled, inclusive and innovation-driven workforce for the nation.”
David Zapolsky, Chief Global Affairs and Legal Officer, Amazon, said, “India’s leadership in building digital infrastructure and skilling initiatives for communities at large is creating unprecedented opportunities for the next generation of innovators. Supporting the Government’s vision of AI inclusion, we have committed to bringing AI education to 4 million government school students by 2030. Through initiatives such as the AI Skills Vans, we aim to combine student learning with teacher capacity building. This reflects our commitment to democratising technology access and ensuring more young Indians are prepared for an AI-enabled future.”
The initiative, implemented in partnership with Learning Links Foundation, builds on Amazon’s global Think Big Spaces program, which delivers hands-on learning through technology labs, school learning corners, and mobile innovation vans across multiple countries.
Additionally, Amazon Web Services (AWS) has trained more than 6.2 million individuals in India in cloud skills since 2017 through programs such as AWS Skill Builder, AWS Educate, and AWS re/Start. It also launched the Think Big Spaces program in 2019 to help students in exploring Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) learning pathways. In India, the program has expanded to 67 learning spaces, benefiting over 13,000 students, supporting more than 700 women entrepreneurs, and enabling nutrition support for more than 12,000 public school students to strengthen learning outcomes. In addition, it works on renovating school and community infrastructure projects including libraries, Primary health centres, community parks, water harvesting structures etc.
More recently, at Smbhav 2025, Amazon announced its planned investment of more than $35 billion across all businesses in India through 2030, with AI-driven digitization as one of three strategic pillars, alongside export growth and job creation. As part of this, Amazon committed to bringing the benefits of AI to 15 million small businesses and AI education for 4 million government school students by 2030.
