Chandigarh: The Punjab government organised an Artificial Intelligence (AI) hackathon to promote tech skills among school students, with more than 1,000 students from government schools participating in a pilot project.

The initiative was conducted by the Punjab School Education Board (PSEB) in collaboration with the First Academy of Artificial Intelligence and Skilleareum, covering 22 schools and involving as many teachers, officials said on Wednesday.

Punjab School Education Minister Harjot Singh Bains said the programme aims to build innovation, creativity, technical skills and leadership among students and encourage them to become future entrepreneurs.

"This is not just a competition but a step towards preparing students for the future. AI is the language of today, and we want our students to lead in this field," he said.

Students underwent 12 weeks of online training sessions conducted by experts, focusing on practical use of AI tools, he added.

Bains said the government plans to expand the programme to more schools across the state in the next academic session.

PSEB Chairman Dr Amarpal Singh said 60 students from 20 schools participated in the hackathon, presenting projects that were evaluated by experts.

He said the projects covered areas such as innovation, video creation, business planning and web development using AI tools.

This report was published from a syndicated wire feed. Apart from the headline, the EdexLive Desk has not edited the copy.