Artificial Intelligence (UCOST, Uttarakhand)

What is the Artificial Intelligence programme in Uttarakhand?

Artificial Intelligence is a science-education programme of the Uttarakhand State Council for Science and Technology (UCOST), an autonomous body of the Government of Uttarakhand under the Department of Information and Science Technology. The programme's purpose is to build awareness, understanding and practical familiarity with artificial intelligence among school students in Uttarakhand, specifically those in classes 9 to 12.

UCOST delivers the programme through its Regional Science Centre, Dehradun, working with Intel. Together they have established an AI Skills Lab at the Regional Science Centre under Intel's AI for Youth programme. Students from government and private schools across Uttarakhand come to the lab for AI coding camps and hands-on experiments, and UCOST also runs AI awareness lectures and interactive demonstration sessions for schools that request them.

The programme is a training and exposure activity, not a financial scheme. There is no scholarship, stipend or subsidy attached to it. What a participating school receives is structured access to an AI lab and to trained resource persons. A facility that few schools in the state, and almost none outside Dehradun, would otherwise be able to build on their own.

What does a student actually do in the programme?

UCOST describes four kinds of activity under this programme:

• AI awareness sessions: introductory lectures for school groups explaining what artificial intelligence is and where it is already being used.
• AI coding camps, structured camps in which students of classes 9 to 12 write and run code themselves.
• Hands-on experiments — practical work carried out at the AI Skills Lab rather than watching a demonstration.
• Interactive demonstrations at the AI Skills Lab at the Regional Science Centre, Dehradun.

The programme sits alongside UCOST's other school-facing science popularisation work, which includes the STEM Jigyasha Kaksha hands-on STEM classes in government schools and the Lab on Wheels mobile science outreach. A school that engages with one of these usually finds it easier to schedule the others, since the same Regional Science Centre team coordinates them.

Who is eligible for the Uttarakhand AI programme?

A student can take part if:

• The student is studying in class 9, 10, 11 or 12.
• The school is in Uttarakhand.
• The school is a government or a private school: both are covered equally.

Who is not eligible:

• Students below class 9 are outside the stated age band for the coding camps and lab experiments.
• Students of schools outside Uttarakhand are not covered, since the programme is a state science council activity for the state's own schools.
• An individual student applying on their own is not the intended applicant. UCOST's registration route runs through the school, which fills the AI registration form and sends it in for a camp, demonstration or awareness lecture.
• College and university students are not the target group of this particular programme; UCOST runs separate activities for higher education and research.

There is no income condition, no caste or category condition, and no minimum marks requirement. The only filters are the class range and the school being in Uttarakhand.

How to apply for the UCOST AI camp

1. The school downloads or obtains the AI registration form for the UCOST Artificial Intelligence programme from the Regional Science Centre, Dehradun.
2. A school authority fills the form with the school's details and the group of class 9 to 12 students proposed for the AI camp, demonstration session or awareness lecture.
3. The school emails the completed form to both addresses given by UCOST, rscdehradoon@gmail.com and rscdoonai@gmail.com.
4. The Regional Science Centre confirms the schedule for the camp, demonstration or lecture, and the school brings the students on the assigned date.

No documents beyond the registration form are required. UCOST states explicitly that no additional documents are needed apart from the form itself, so schools do not need to attach student identity documents, marksheets or certificates.

Is there an online application?

There is no online application portal for this programme. Registration is offline in the sense that it is done by email rather than through a government portal. The school completes the AI registration form and sends it to the two Regional Science Centre email addresses. Schools that need help with the form can contact UCOST at Vigyan Dham on +91-0135-2976266.

What documents are required?

How does a school check the status of its registration?

Because registration is by email, the confirmation route is also by email or phone. A school that has sent the AI registration form and not heard back should follow up on the same email thread to rscdehradoon@gmail.com and rscdoonai@gmail.com, or call UCOST at Vigyan Dham, Dehradun. There is no online status tracker for this programme, and no application number is issued.

Common reasons a school does not get a slot

• Form sent to only one email address. UCOST lists two addresses, and sending to both reduces the chance of the request being missed.
• Students outside classes 9 to 12. A request built around class 6 or 7 students falls outside the stated eligibility.
• No indication of group size or preferred dates. The Regional Science Centre schedules camps in batches, and a request without those details is harder to place.
• Capacity at the AI Skills Lab. The lab is a single facility at the Regional Science Centre in Dehradun, so slots are finite and demand from across the state is spread over the academic year.

Where to get help

• Uttarakhand State Council for Science and Technology (UCOST), Vigyan Dham, Vigyan Sadan Block, Dehradun 248007, Uttarakhand
• Phone: +91-0135-2976266
• Registration email for the AI programme: rscdehradoon@gmail.com and rscdoonai@gmail.com
• Website: ucost.uk.gov.in

Participation in the UCOST Artificial Intelligence programme carries no prescribed fee and requires no agent or intermediary. Any school in Uttarakhand with students in classes 9 to 12 can write in directly.