Nithiananthini Kumarawel | Assistant Director
Ministry of Education, Malaysia

Dr. Nithia.K is an education policy and learning innovation professional with nearly 20 years of experience spanning classroom teaching, teacher development, national policy implementation, and regional cooperation under SDG4. She serves as Assistant Director in the Digital Education Policy Unit at the Ministry of Education Malaysia, advancing digital education policy, responsible AI literacy, teacher professional learning, and inclusive digital transformation. She leads the Digital Education Policy Professional Support Programme, supporting rural, island, and underserved schools to strengthen digital capacity for teachers and students. She also leads the Networked-Offline Digital Environment (NODE) Project, which focuses on developing unplugged-AI teaching and learning resources for rural and island school teachers to improve digital connectivity and access to AI tools. Dr. Nithia.K contributed as a sub-editor to Malaysia’s Digital Education Policy (2023) and AI Literacy Guide (2026), and delivers AI literacy training for ministry officials, education officers, school leaders, and teachers. Her regional work includes co-organizing capacity-building programmes for rural and island teachers with UNESCO INRULED, SEAMEO RECSAM, and Beijing Normal University’s UNESCO Chair on AI in Education. An ASEFNextEd1 Fellow 2026 with the Asia-Europe Foundation, she contributes to the Reimagining Teachers’ Intelligence in the AI Era white paper. She is also a JICA Japan Middle Manager Fellow (2026) and an active regional speaker.