Sri Lanka is aggressively incorporating artificial intelligence into the curriculum and educational structure, according to a statement released by the Ministry of Education on Wednesday. The ministry and Microsoft Corp. inked a memorandum of understanding on Tuesday to launch a new initiative that will teach students in 20 Sri Lankan districts artificial intelligence.
“Sri Lanka has recently concentrated on integrating AI and digital education technologies into the current curriculum and future reforms,” K. P. Munagama, the ministry’s additional secretary for IT and digital education, told Arab News.
“In the first round, 20 schools and 100 teachers will receive AI integration into the curriculum thanks to a partnership between Microsoft and the education ministry. It will be introduced to eighth graders.
A statement from Sri Lanka’s President’s Media Division states that the Microsoft initiative is expected to be fully operational by 2025. Online learning activities will be facilitated by a committed team within the organization. Furthermore, in an effort to find workable solutions for integrating AI technology into the educational system, the ministry of education has been working with commercial businesses. A new curriculum has just been introduced at Colombo’s Skills College of Technology.
According to Munagama, the introduction of AI into the Sri Lankan educational system has a number of advantages, one of which is that it can help with the teacher shortage in some areas, like STEM and engineering technologies.
“In the future, we can leverage artificial intelligence to help develop tools that complement the learning platform in a technical capacity. AI can be used by teachers to create educational activities, according to Munagama.
He went on to say that although Sri Lanka is just beginning to incorporate AI into its educational system, the country still needs to overcome its infrastructural deficit in order to support this advanced technology.
“But we are making progress day by day.”
