Ordos has secured 107 entries on the recently announced shortlist for the 2026 Smart Education Outstanding Case Collection, a significant leap from 26 entries in 2025.

The selected cases include 103 school-level implementations and four regional development initiatives, highlighting the city's growing prowess in education technology.

Ordos has placed artificial intelligence in education at the forefront of its policy agenda, rolling out a series of strategic plans including the AI-Empowered K-12 Education Action Plan.

The city's strategy is based on a five-pillar framework – focused on instruction, learning, administration, evaluation, and research – backed by a three-tier implementation system that coordinates municipal oversight, district-level collaboration, and school-level execution.

Looking ahead to the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-30), Ordos has mapped out a comprehensive roadmap featuring eight specialized actions across six priority areas. These include building a general AI education resource base, mainstreaming AI literacy courses, expanding the AI teaching workforce, and fortifying the digital infrastructure for widespread AI applications.

What started as simple school-level experiments has evolved into a comprehensive, region-wide movement. Using smart education as a catalyst, Ordos is driving a fundamental transformation in educational quality, offering a replicable model for other regions navigating the digital shift.