In a bold and imaginative attempt to tackle the alarming dropout rate among high school students in one of Tripura’s remotest regions, the North District administration has rolled out “Aspirational Boards”—an AI-powered visual initiative aimed at reigniting students' motivation by putting their dreams in focus.
The project, launched in Dasda, an aspirational block in the northernmost part of the state, comes in response to troubling statistics: only about 30 percent of students make the transition from Class VIII to IX and from X to XI.
“Nearly 70 percent of our students were dropping out,” said North Tripura District Magistrate Chandni Chandran said, “We traced many of them and found the reasons ranged from low-income jobs and early marriages to exam failures. But what really stood out was the absence of emotional connection to their goals.”
To bridge this gap, Chandran and her team conceptualized Aspirational Boards. The administration collected each student's career aspiration and used artificial intelligence to generate images of them in their dream roles—be it a doctor, engineer, athlete, or artist. These AI-generated portraits were then turned into collages and prominently displayed inside classrooms.
“The idea was simple: let students see themselves as successful individuals every day. That visual connection can have a powerful psychological impact,” Chandran said.
Early feedback has been promising. “The students were thrilled to see their future selves. It gave them something concrete to aim for—something bigger than the challenges they face at home,” she added.
Encouraged by the response, the district now plans to scale the initiative to more schools. In a region where dreams are often compromised too soon, Aspirational Boards are helping students imagine—and believe in—a brighter future, one image at a time.