Future-proofing our education system to artificial intelligence

According to the Cisco Digital Readiness Index, Sri Lanka ranks 90th overall out of 146 countries in terms of a holistic measure of a country’s level of digital readiness. Digital readiness as a whole encapsulates how economies are ready to face the future in terms of not being left behind on metrics of basic needs, business and Government investment, and ease of doing business among other things. 

This indicator, put simply, illuminates Sri Lanka’s relative position on our digital competitiveness on simple integration to more complex areas such as the internet of things and Artificial intelligence – and there is much to be done. Recently, Susil Premajayantha, the Minister of Education, stated that Grade 10 students would be exposed to the Artificial intelligence topic beginning next year. According to UNESCO reports, Sri Lanka must aim for “educational transformation” rather than “educational reform” in a ceremony providing culinary equipment to selected schools with malnutrition in the Colombo zone. The Minister recommends educating teachers in technology as well as extending this approach from schools to the entire university system.

Artificial intelligence is a capability built into computers that allows them to have human intellect and cognitive capabilities like learning and problem-solving while, in order to safeguard the youth, the Minister plans to develop a workshop for teachers and use these instructors as advisors, while also securing the cooperation of professional advisers in Divisional Secretariats. Lower-skilled employees, who are projected to be the most impacted by automation and AI, must prioritise gaining new skills whenever feasible. To overcome today’s worldwide scarcity of competent employees, Governments and companies will need to initiate upskilling efforts. Emerging disciplines such as cognitive computing and artificial intelligence (AI), next-generation security, and cloud architecture will all be in high demand.

Meanwhile, there should be a purposeful push toward – or integration of – ethics and the humanities for students in non-STEM disciplines. The solution is to concentrate on tasks that computers will be “less good at for longer”, according to a 2017 study from the UK Parliament’s Science and Technology Committee.  According to the research, school and university curricula will need to be changed to reflect the world we live in and how it is evolving, with problem-solving and creativity being the most valuable assets. The more education is reformatted at all levels to better prepare students for the new world of AI, the sooner Governments will be able to use the technology to prepare for the digital economy. 

Prioritise schooling to achieve equitable development across all three AI-ready building blocks. These measures necessitate close collaboration between the public and private sectors. Huawei has launched Spark, a hybrid accelerator program designed to promote emerging entrepreneurs and grow the Asia Pacific ecosystem. 

Accepted start-ups in the Huawei Spark program will receive free Cloud resources, hardware support (including AI modules and AI-based intelligent industry solutions), and open-source software tools (including an AI framework, database, and operating system) to help them develop their own applications, services, and hardware appliances. Because of Sri Lanka’s global reputation and competence in such sectors, this initiative will be launched in Sri Lanka, as well as Singapore and Hong Kong.

Collaboration between education and labour departments, educational institutions, and technology suppliers is essential for long-term planning in areas such as digital know-how, upskilling, talent nurturing, and resource planning. Install infrastructure and methods to guarantee that digital materials are widely and easily accessible.  Develop particular workforce subgroups to suit future demands. AI, long a staple of science fiction, is now a very real presence in business, industry, Government operations, and a variety of other industries, with AI applications taking on an increasing range of functions.

AI is hastening the shift from traditional to digital economies while also defining the contours of the developing digital economy and society. Policymakers will need to understand the fundamental prerequisites for AI as well as its potential, as this technology is expected to have a significant influence on economic development. This begins with, but certainly does not end with, education transformation.