Chennai-headquartered technology company Zoho has launched Zoho Classes 2.0, an artificial intelligence-powered academic Learning Management System (LMS), offering the platform free of product licensing costs to all Central and state government schools, colleges and universities in India.
The platform, developed in India and designed for educational institutions globally, will be rolled out first in the domestic market before expanding to international markets with region-specific capabilities in the coming months.
Besides government institutions, Zoho said any teacher handling up to 100 students can use the platform free of charge, while private educational institutions can access it through subscription-based plans.
Democratising access to educational technology
The company said the initiative reflects its commitment to making quality educational technology accessible irrespective of an institution’s financial resources.
Zoho CEO Mani Vembu said education remains one of the most important sectors where technology can deliver lasting social impact.
“Education shapes how societies learn, adapt and grow, making it one of the most important areas where technology can create lasting impact. Every education system is unique, and technology must be built around local needs and diverse learning environments. This belief has shaped Zoho Classes into a platform designed to adapt to the diverse students and education systems it serves,” he said.
Vembu added that providing Zoho Classes free to government educational institutions is part of the company’s effort to democratise access to digital learning tools.
“We believe access to modern educational technology should never be limited by an institution’s resources. We hope this enables more institutions to harness technology to improve learning outcomes and expand educational opportunities,” he said.
AI at the core of teaching and learning
Zoho Classes 2.0 integrates teaching, learning, student lifecycle management and institutional administration into a single AI-powered platform.
The latest version introduces three major capabilities such as AI integrated throughout the learning journey, student engagement tools designed for digital-native learners and student lifecycle management backed by institutional intelligence.
The platform is also deeply localised for India, supporting all 22 scheduled Indian languages, enabling AI-powered teaching, assessments and learning content to be delivered in students’ preferred language.
Reducing teachers’ workload
Zoho Vice President of Product Management Dev Anand Ramasamy said conventional learning management systems were designed primarily for content delivery, whereas today’s students expect interactive and immersive learning experiences.
“Zoho Classes 2.0 uses a deeply embedded AI layer to automate time-intensive work like lesson planning, grading and reporting, freeing teachers to focus on what matters most—teaching and engaging students,” he said.
The platform’s AI Course Builder can convert a syllabus or lesson plan into a structured course in less than 30 seconds, automatically generating video lesson outlines, reading material, assignments, adaptive practice tests and outcome mapping.
Teachers also gain access to a library of more than 100,000 curriculum templates, while features such as scheduled content release, in-video note saving and flipped classroom support are aimed at improving learning outcomes.
Personalised learning for students
For students, Zoho Classes 2.0 offers a personalised learning experience through a 24×7 AI Tutor, microlearning modules, gamified learning and interactive assessments.
The platform is designed to improve student engagement while supporting learners at their own pace.
Institutions can also track students from enrolment to graduation, identify at-risk learners using AI, monitor engagement trends and access data-driven insights for academic planning.
A built-in Low-Code Micro App Builder enables educational institutions to develop custom applications for admissions, lesson planning and syllabus management without requiring software development expertise.
Built for India’s education ecosystem
Zoho said the platform has been developed to support India’s multilingual education ecosystem and aligns with the objectives of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.
It also supports outcome-based education and accreditation requirements for institutions governed by NAAC, NBA, UGC and the National Medical Commission (NMC), including competency-based medical education workflows.
Built on Zoho’s vertically integrated technology stack, the platform offers data residency in India, sovereign data protection and compliance with the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act.
Widely adopted across institutions
Zoho Classes is already being used by several educational institutions, including SRM Institute, Sishya School, Chettinad Health City, CGIHM, Vidya Mandir, Grace International School and GSE Institute, besides government education bodies.
According to Zoho, the platform has so far delivered more than 8 million notifications, supported over 1 million assignment submissions, facilitated more than 100,000 minutes of learning content consumption and hosts over 2 TB of teacher-created video conten