Beijing Is Turning 50 Schools Into AI Showcases — for a System That Already Reaches 1.83 Million Students
October 4, 2026
Beijing has named 50 schools and universities as official “model campuses” for AI in the classroom, sharply escalating a citywide push to weave artificial intelligence into every level of education.
Why it matters: China is treating AI literacy as national infrastructure, not an elective. Beijing now says more than 1,400 of its schools — covering 1.83 million students — offer introductory AI classes, and 91 percent of primary and secondary students are using AI applications.
What happened
On Saturday, the Beijing Municipal Education Commission designated the second batch of benchmark institutions for AI integration: 45 primary and secondary schools across 16 districts, plus five higher-education institutions, including Beijing Technology and Business University and the Beijing Film Academy. Officials say the goal is to build scalable smart-education models and establish Beijing as a national demonstration hub for AI in education.
What the AI classrooms actually look like
The model campuses aren’t just buying tablets. At Tsinghua University High School, an “AI Cloud School” platform delivers interactive instruction and customized student evaluations while supporting administrative work — and a smart physical-education gallery uses AI to evaluate students’ form in real time during exercises like jump rope and sit-ups, feeding instant diagnostics back to teachers so they can adjust lesson plans.
At the Luhe High School Affiliated School in Tongzhou District, educators have built AI modules into core subjects ranging from mathematics to classical literature. Universities on the list are aiming at interdisciplinary innovation: the Beijing Film Academy has created specialized institutes for intelligent image engineering and AI-generated content research, launching a cross-disciplinary “Future Image Studies” program and joint laboratories with technology companies to train creators in algorithmic logic and digital production.
Why it matters
The model-school strategy is classic Beijing: pilot intensely in a controlled showcase, then export the template nationwide. Municipal officials say they plan to use national pilot bases and localized AI agents to build a centralized repository of educational tools, pushing the capital’s smart-education practices into classrooms across the country.
For anyone watching the global AI education race, the numbers are the story. A 91 percent AI application rate across Beijing’s primary and secondary students is a deployment scale no Western school system is close to matching — and it creates a real-world laboratory, with millions of students, for classroom AI tools that vendors everywhere will be watching.
FAQ
What exactly did Beijing announce?
The Beijing Municipal Education Commission named 50 institutions — 45 primary and secondary schools across 16 districts, plus five universities — as AI model campuses, the second such batch. They will develop replicable models for AI-driven teaching, learning, and school administration.
How far has AI already spread in Beijing’s schools?
According to municipal officials, more than 1,400 primary and secondary schools in the capital, encompassing 1.83 million students, now maintain full coverage of introductory AI classes, with a 91 percent AI application rate among students.
Is this a nationwide policy?
Not yet — this is a Beijing municipal initiative. But officials explicitly framed the goal as establishing Beijing as a national demonstration hub, with the intention of spreading these practices to classrooms across the country.
Sources: ChinaTechNews