A Critical Review of Advancing Inclusive Education inSouth Asia through Universal Design for Learning and Human-Centered AI

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is rapidly transforming education globally, yet its potential to foster inclusive learning in South Asia remains under-examined. This study explores how Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and Human-Centred Artificial Intelligence (HCAI) can be jointly leveraged to reduce access disparities and support learner diversity in the region. UDL promotes curricular design that anticipates learner variability, while HCAI emphasizes AI systems that are transparent, ethical, and responsive to human needs, particularly in low-resource and high-diversity settings. Using secondary data, this paper conducts a critical review of recent scholarship on inclusive pedagogy, AI in education, and South Asian educational ecosystems. The review finds that UDL-HCAI integration presents promising avenues for inclusion, including assistive technologies, multilingual interfaces, adaptive content delivery, and teacher-guided AI applications. However, persistent challenges such as infrastructure gaps, uneven digital literacy, and insufficient teacher training remain significant obstacles to equitable adoption. The study concludes that meaningful implementation requires ethical AI design, systemic support for educators, and participatory co-design with affected learner groups. It recommends piloting integrated UDL-HCAI models in real South Asian classroom contexts to assess their practical and longitudinal impact on inclusion and learning outcomes.