AI for education

Artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping education globally, promising accessible, personalized and effective learning. Unesco is committed to supporting member states to harness the potential of AI for achieving the Education 2030 Agenda while ensuring inclusivity, ethics, and equity.

For Pakistan, a country perpetually plagued by an education crisis, AI represents both a transformative opportunity and a potential pitfall. Success depends on whether Pakistan addresses the risks of deepening inequalities and cultural erasure while leveraging AI’s potential for inclusive education.

Globally, AI has already demonstrated its ability to bridge educational gaps. In China, platforms like Squirrel AI Learning, which received the Unesco AI Innovation Award back in 2020, apply adaptive learning to provide personalized tutoring, enabling rural students to perform on par with urban students. In Kenya, Unesco-backed tools such as M-Shule offer SMS-based lessons tailored to individual learning levels, reaching areas with limited internet. These examples show how localized and context-aware AI can reduce educational disparities.

Pakistan holds immense potential for leveraging AI in education, with localised examples already showing promise. Platforms like Knowledge Platform, which obtained Unesco’s Wenhui Award for its innovative approach to learning recovery, utilise AI to provide personalized education to students and deliver engaging educational content. These tools can address disparities by teaching children in remote areas like Tharparkar or South Waziristan in Sindhi or Pashto, where access to qualified teachers is limited.

In regions like Gilgit-Baltistan, where schools often lack basic teaching resources, AI can support learning in Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics (STEAM) subjects. AI-powered platforms could also serve as virtual tutors for girls in the Newly Merged Districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, overcoming barriers posed by cultural norms, inconsistent electricity, and limited computer skills. By integrating AI, Pakistan can align with government’s digital skills initiatives and UNESCO’s mission to promote inclusive education in marginalised areas.

However, the rapid adoption of AI in Pakistan raises critical infrastructural, cultural, and ethical concerns. The country’s severe digital divide threatens to deepen inequalities, with only 36 per cent of Pakistanis having internet access. Disparities are stark, as rural Baluchistan’s internet penetration remains below 20 per cent, while urban centres like Karachi and Lahore explore AI-driven learning tools. Expanding digital infrastructure equitably is essential to prevent AI from widening the educational gap between urban and rural areas.

A critical risk of AI adoption in Pakistan is the potential erasure of its linguistic diversity, with over 70 languages spoken, many of which are endangered. Languages like Domaaki, spoken by fewer than 500 people, face extinction within decades without preservation efforts. AI could help by using machine-learning algorithms to digitise, document, and create culturally relevant educational content in these languages, reflecting local customs and indigenous knowledge. However, without a deliberate focus on linguistic preservation, the situation may worsen.

Unesco’s ‘Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger’ underscores the urgency of saving these languages, as their loss would mean the disappearance of invaluable stories, oral histories, and indigenous wisdom tied to community identity. In regions like Gilgit-Baltistan, where local languages are excluded from curricula, AI tools focusing solely on Urdu and English may risk accelerating the decline of minority tongues.

Ethical concerns around AI adoption in Pakistan’s education require careful attention. Globally, AI systems have faced criticism for algorithmic biases, such as automated grading penalizing minority students in the US. Unesco’s ‘Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence’ emphasises aligning AI with human rights, fairness, and inclusivity. As Pakistan competes to create AI-driven solutions, a failure to adopt a holistic, ethics-driven approach could prevent the country from realising AI’s full potential.

In Pakistan, data protection laws need to be strengthened to address the issues of data ownership and usage. Would AI systems created by multinational corporations prioritise local community needs or corporate interests? Ethical AI design must also address Pakistan’s gender disparities. While AI could provide education for girls in hard-to-reach areas, poorly designed systems risk perpetuating societal biases. Unesco’s ‘AI and Gender Equality’ report highlights the dangers of embedding biases in algorithms, a critical warning Pakistan must take seriously.

Today, as the world celebrates the International Day of Education, which emphasises the transformative power of education and underscores the need for inclusivity and innovation, Pakistan must recognise the importance of embracing AI to ensure equitable access to quality learning. The potential of AI to bridge educational gaps in the country is immense, but it requires strategic planning and ethical considerations.

Pakistan can prioritise digital inclusion by expanding internet access in underserved regions like Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Gilgit-Baltistan, southern Punjab, rural Sindh and Balochistan. Collaboration between the government, the private sector, and international organisations could mobilise resources, while policymakers can incentivise the development of AI tools for endangered languages, taking inspiration from models like Kenya’s M-Shule, which uses AI and SMS to deliver culturally relevant lessons in local languages.

As Pakistan is finalising its national AI policy, it is vital that the policy reflects ethical considerations and ensures that AI adoption in education is done in a way that takes into consideration the local contexts, promotes equity, preserves cultural diversity, and enhances the learning experience for all students.