News Analysis India

Tag: UNESCO report

  • Resource, infrastructure crunch impact AI expansion in India’s education sector: UNESCO report

    Express News Service

    NEW DELHI: Lack of resources and infrastructure affects the expansion of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the education sector in India, said the latest UNESCO report launched on Tuesday. 

    The 2022 State of the Education Report (SOER) for India: Artificial Intelligence in Education – Here, There and Everywhere also listed social inequity, gender disparity, digital divide, and even region-based disparities hindering AI education in India. 

    The report bizarrely claimed that the high pupil-teacher ratios and lack of professionally qualified teachers in the Indian education sector might be addressed by AI-powered tools.

    Highlighting that the AI market in India is expected to reach US$7.8 billion by 2025 at the rate of 20.2 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR), the report gave ten recommendations to catalyse India’s transformational journey through technical education and advanced tech-driven solutions in the educational processes.  

    These recommendations include ensuring that all students and teachers have access to the latest technology, expanding AI literacy efforts and involving the private sector to involve students and educationists in developing AI products.  

    “Today, improving the quality of education and students’ learning outcomes are the utmost priorities of all countries. India has made significant strides in its education system, and strong indicators point to the country’s notable efforts to enhance learning outcomes, including using Artificial Intelligence-powered education technology, said Eric Falt, Director, UNESCO, New Delhi, at the release of the annual flagship report.

    To align India’s curriculum to the 21st century and to prepare the students for the AI economy, National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 lays profound emphasis on the need to impart the necessary technical knowledge at all levels of education, he said. 

    The NEP emphasises the integration of AI in education and also promotes quality and skill-based education, he said, adding that the UNESCO report offers a glimpse of the varied dimensions and suggestions for future uses of AI in the school setting in India.

    “The hope is that, in the coming years, Artificial Intelligence will play a positive and pivotal role in India’s continuously evolving education sector. At the same time, while acknowledging the growing presence of Artificial Intelligence in everyday life, it is crucial to uphold the fundamental principles of ethics regarding Artificial Intelligence,” the report added. 

     The key recommendations of the report:  

    Consider the ethics of Artificial Intelligence in education as an utmost priority

    Rapidly provide an overall regulatory framework for Artificial Intelligence in Education  

    Create effective public-private partnerships

    Ensure that all students and teachers have access to the latest technology

    Expand AI literacy efforts

    Attempt to correct algorithmic biases and the resulting discrimination

    Improve public trust in Artificial Intelligence

    Request the private sector to better involve students and educationists in developing AI products  

    Place ownership of data with the students

    Embrace the versatility of Artificial Intelligence in Education systems

    NEW DELHI: Lack of resources and infrastructure affects the expansion of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the education sector in India, said the latest UNESCO report launched on Tuesday. 

    The 2022 State of the Education Report (SOER) for India: Artificial Intelligence in Education – Here, There and Everywhere also listed social inequity, gender disparity, digital divide, and even region-based disparities hindering AI education in India. 

    The report bizarrely claimed that the high pupil-teacher ratios and lack of professionally qualified teachers in the Indian education sector might be addressed by AI-powered tools.

    Highlighting that the AI market in India is expected to reach US$7.8 billion by 2025 at the rate of 20.2 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR), the report gave ten recommendations to catalyse India’s transformational journey through technical education and advanced tech-driven solutions in the educational processes.  

    These recommendations include ensuring that all students and teachers have access to the latest technology, expanding AI literacy efforts and involving the private sector to involve students and educationists in developing AI products.  

    “Today, improving the quality of education and students’ learning outcomes are the utmost priorities of all countries. India has made significant strides in its education system, and strong indicators point to the country’s notable efforts to enhance learning outcomes, including using Artificial Intelligence-powered education technology, said Eric Falt, Director, UNESCO, New Delhi, at the release of the annual flagship report.

    To align India’s curriculum to the 21st century and to prepare the students for the AI economy, National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 lays profound emphasis on the need to impart the necessary technical knowledge at all levels of education, he said. 

    The NEP emphasises the integration of AI in education and also promotes quality and skill-based education, he said, adding that the UNESCO report offers a glimpse of the varied dimensions and suggestions for future uses of AI in the school setting in India.

    “The hope is that, in the coming years, Artificial Intelligence will play a positive and pivotal role in India’s continuously evolving education sector. At the same time, while acknowledging the growing presence of Artificial Intelligence in everyday life, it is crucial to uphold the fundamental principles of ethics regarding Artificial Intelligence,” the report added. 

     The key recommendations of the report:  

    Consider the ethics of Artificial Intelligence in education as an utmost priority

    Rapidly provide an overall regulatory framework for Artificial Intelligence in Education  

    Create effective public-private partnerships

    Ensure that all students and teachers have access to the latest technology

    Expand AI literacy efforts

    Attempt to correct algorithmic biases and the resulting discrimination

    Improve public trust in Artificial Intelligence

    Request the private sector to better involve students and educationists in developing AI products  

    Place ownership of data with the students

    Embrace the versatility of Artificial Intelligence in Education systems

  • Working conditions of teachers in Northeast poor: UNESCO report 

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The working conditions of teachers in the Northeast and “aspirational districts” are poor and there is a marked rural-urban disparity in terms of basic amenities as well as information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure, according to a UNESCO report.

    The report, titled ‘2021 State of the Education Report for India: No Teacher, No Class’, also states that while teacher availability has improved, pupil-teacher ratios are still adverse in secondary schools.

    The teaching workforce has a deficit of over 1 million teachers at current student strength and the need is likely to grow, given the shortages of teachers in certain education levels and subjects such as early childhood education, special education, physical education, music, arts, and curricular streams of vocational education, the report says.

    “In fifteen years, about 30 per cent of the current workforce will need to be replaced,” it said.

    “There is a pronounced need to improve both availability and deployment of qualified teachers in the north-eastern states of India. In terms of basic amenities, the working conditions of teachers in the northeast and the aspirational districts are poor.

    Provision of school libraries is low, information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure is very low, and there is marked rural-urban disparity.

    “While teacher availability has improved, pupil-teacher ratios are adverse in secondary schools. Moreover, there is no information on availability of special education, music, arts and physical education teachers. The availability and deployment of subject teachers too, is not well documented and monitored. Almost all single-teacher schools are in rural areas,” the report said.

    The report, released by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), has noted that the teaching profession has “average status” in India, but it is a career of choice for women and youth from rural areas in particular.

    “Private school teachers and early childhood education teachers are highly vulnerable groups, with many working without contracts at low salaries, with no health or maternity leave benefits,” it said.

    Calling for more “professional autonomy” for teachers, the report said, “Teacher workload is high — contrary to public perception — although invisible, and a source of stress.

    Teachers value being given professional autonomy, and disregard of this is demotivating.”

    “Teachers’ voices in the system in matters of policy and governance can be enhanced through professional teacher networks, and unions. Most accountability systems tend to emphasize monitoring. Professional standards need to be made a part of a larger system and used in the context of professional development rather than accountability,” it added.

    The report prepared using data from the Unified District Information System for Education (UDISE) has also found that the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the vulnerability and insecurity of teachers.

    “The profession is overall gender balanced, with women accounting for about 50 per cent of the teaching workforce, but there are significant inter-state and urban-rural variations,” it said.

    “Special attention needs to be paid to rural areas, districts with high scheduled caste and tribe populations, and all across India’s north-east, where the ratio of teachers to students needs to improve and be rationalized.

    Working conditions in these ‘difficult to staff’ regions also need to be improved.

    More state support for teacher education programmes is desirable in these regions,” the report recommended.