According to education authorities, plans are afoot to update the school curricula for a significant share of schoolchildren, i.e. those studying in Grades 6 to 13, and these amended curricula are expected to prepare schoolchildren for modern-day developments. According to Education Minister Attorney Dr. Susil Premajayantha, as part of these reforms, the Education Ministry is planning to include artificial intelligence (AI) in the school curricula as a new subject. He believes that the country’s future depends on developing new technologies.

The Minister’s sentiments are true to a great extent. A large part of the people’s lives and futures depend on technology, and therefore, a lack of tech-related knowledge is a huge deficit when it comes to competing to excel in the modern world. While a large number of day-to-day activities are evolving to be more tech-friendly, technology, especially the internet, supports many new services and needs. Therefore, facilitating tech education even amidst difficulties is a need of the hour. However, the abovementioned plan appears to be incomplete.

Including AI in the school curricula to empower the next generation seems more like a part of a plan and not a whole plan because what it can achieve is limited. While taking the initial step to provide schoolchildren with a rudimentary knowledge of AI is admirable, that is just the preparation process. Creating a citizen that is proficient in AI, or information technology (IT) for that matter, is a more complex and lengthy process that goes beyond one subject or school. 

First and foremost, there is a question about facilities. Experiences of schoolchildren with whom The Daily Morning has spoken on several occasions suggest that even though IT has become a highly sought-after subject among General Certificate of Education Ordinary Level (O/L) and Advanced Level (A/L) students, many schools and school-age children do not have adequate facilities. They claim that using the limited computer lab facilities in schools is challenging, because access to those facilities is limited, and many schoolchildren do not have a computer at home. In this economy, purchasing a computer is not a viable option for many schoolchildren. In addition, there is a questionable situation regarding the facilities available outside schools to pursue AI. On the one hand, although several State universities conduct AI-related courses, entering a State university is an uphill battle due to their lack of capacity. On the other hand, entering a private university that conducts AI-related courses or going abroad to enter a foreign university is more challenging now than before. 

That is why the abovementioned updating of the school curricula to equip the next generation with AI knowledge is just a part of the plan. There is a gap between what is expected to be achieved through the updating of the school curricula and what it could achieve in actuality in the Sri Lankan context. In order to create competent AI professionals, a lot more needs to happen at the school and post-secondary education levels. Therefore, while attempts to introduce the next generation to new, necessary knowledge is admirable, if the authorities fail to create an accommodating environment for these subjects outside schools, they will become just another subject which children study only to pass exams.