Quality education comes forth among the UN’s 17 SDGs. Despite its fourth position, education has a decisive impact on achieving the other 16 SDGs. Indeed, education has been considered the most effective instrument in helping people overcome poverty and inequality. However, developing countries are facing severe issues with the quality of education. Indeed, half of 1.8 billion students worldwide cannot achieve essential reading and numeracy skills. This problem is even worse in the least developed countries. 90% of 10-year-olds in Sub-Saharan Africa are illiterate. Fortunately, AI can play a significant role in mitigating the learning crisis in poor countries.
Currently, 95% of the population lives in areas covered by the internet, and smartphones are more popular than ever. This raises the possibility that developing countries can utilize AI to address the learning crises among children. Indeed, some AI-empowered learning platforms, including ALEKs, can provide students with feedback and tailor the learning content according to students’ needs. More impact techs for education utilising AI to support learning should be available in poor countries. These education techs should be approachable for most children, even those who don’t have opportunities to go to school. In other words, children can use these AI-powered platforms with no costs and without too many technical difficulties.
Given that AI can improve education quality in developing countries, it cannot replace qualified teachers. To solve the learning crisis, developing countries should enhance the quality of their educators by equipping them with AI skills. While some teachers are eager to learn new things, including AI and digital skills, others are unwilling to make changes. As a result, developing countries should provide the necessary resources to those teachers who want to upgrade their digital skills. For those reluctant to change, developing countries should incentivize them to get familiar with AI and digital tools that can enhance their classroom capabilities.
Some AI-based platforms, including MagicSchool and Ummia, can help teachers create engaging learning materials that align with the curriculum. More impact techs like those should be more available in developing countries. Teachers can then use them in the classroom to enhance their students’ learning. In addition, new AI-based platforms should be affordable for teachers in poor countries. In addition, they should be user-friendly to avoid the technology fatigue that is quite popular among people who need to be tech-savvy and those who are not good at tech.
Author: Bao Hoang, Ph.D.
