Guyana’s president urges embrace of AI in education

PORT OF SPAIN (CMC):

Guyana’s President, Dr Irfaan Ali, Wednesday urged regional countries to embrace artificial intelligence (AI) in education, warning that failure to do so could result in the Caribbean being left behind in an era of technological development.

Delivering the feature address at the fourth Ministerial Summit of the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC), President Ali told delegates that the region finds itself at a “crucial juncture” as the challenges and opportunities before the Caribbean are “immense, especially as we grapple with the decline in mathematics … and the lasting impact of the learning loss occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic”.

He told the summit, which is being held here a day before the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Council of Human and Social Development (COHSOD) Ministers of Education meetings, that the pandemic provided the region with a crash course “in the potential and pitfalls of online learning.

“The pandemic forced us to adapt quickly. For many this was an uncomfortable transition. We shifted from traditional class room settings to online platforms, attempting to ensure that no child was left without the opportunity to learn during those challenging months…”.