Zoho Launches AI-Powered Classes 2.0 LMS for Indian Educational Institutions

For private institutions, the platform will be charged on a subscription basis starting at Rs 500 per teacher per month, while individual teachers with up to 100 students can use the platform free of charge.

The sudden launch of Zoho comes at a time when educational institutions are increasingly looking to AI not just for content generation but also to rethink how classrooms function.

Zoho says the platform goes beyond traditional LMS software by embedding AI across lesson planning, assessments, student engagement and institutional administration.

Dev Anand Ramasamy, vice president of product management at Zoho, in an interaction with ET Online, said: "Traditional LMS platforms were built to deliver academic content, not experiences".

Motive of the AI-powered platform

The LMS model is designed to enable students to participate actively in the classroom. The Vice President said, "If you try to talk continuously for 40 minutes or an hour to a classroom full of Gen Z students, you will immediately lose their attention. It is not going to be a win-win for anyone." The launch will limit the teachers' need to handle the entire class through lectures.

One of the central elements of Zoho's approach is the implementation of the globally popular "flipped classroom" model in Indian educational institutions.

Instead of presenting a topic during class time, educators can provide an AI-generated course in advance. This enables students to review the material beforehand, allowing class sessions to concentrate on discussions, quizzes, and problem-solving activities.

"Instead of the teacher introducing the topic, the LMS introduces it a week before class," Ramas Amy explained.

"Students spend that week going through the course. Even if they understand only five or ten per cent, they don't enter the classroom with a blank slate. That spark in the classroom automatically happens."

The platform launches classes via live quizzes that students can access by scanning QR codes on their phones. This allows teachers to receive immediate feedback on students' comprehension before diving further into the lesson.

It says that the AI builder can generate a course structure, including reading material, assignments, and a practice test, in under 30 seconds from a lesson plan or syllabus.

Language support

When it comes to language, it offers multilingual support. Zoho classes 2.0 supports all 22 scheduled Indian languages, allowing not only the interface but also AI-generated teaching material, assessments, notifications, and classroom assistance to function in regional languages.

"If we build everything in English, in a country like India where we are highly diversified, this will miserably fail because millions of children still think and dream in their mother tongue," Ramasamy said.

In a move aimed at expanding digital education, Zoho will make the platform available at no product licensing cost to all central and state government educational institutions.

Besides AI-powered course creation, Zoho Classes 2.0 includes student lifecycle management, institutional analytics, accreditation reporting for NAAC, NBA and NMC, competency tracking for medical colleges and a low-code application builder for educational institutions.

Besides AI-powered course creation, Zoho Classes 2.0 includes student lifecycle management, institutional analytics, accreditation reporting for NAAC, NBA and NMC, competency tracking for medical colleges and a low-code application builder for educational institutions.

It is currently used by institutions including SRM Institute, Sishya School, Chettinad Health City, Vidya Mandir, Grace International School, and GSE Institute, as well as multiple government education initiatives.