The Ministry of Education, Skills, Youth and Information has introduced a pilot programme in several schools where artificial intelligence (AI) is being used to assist teachers with marking papers.
“We are actually piloting this with some of our schools to see how it works, and the interesting thing is that we at the Ministry can actually see the results real time, so as it marks we can see how the schools are doing, so that’s really one example of how we are already using AI,” Portfolio Minister, Senator Dr. the Hon. Dana Morris Dixon, said.
She gave details while outlining initiatives being undertaken in the education sector, during her contribution to the Appropriation Bill in the Senate, recently.
The Senator added that technology is being used, as much as possible, to make the country’s education system better.
“The global workforce is changing rapidly and AI is at the forefront of that change and Jamaica cannot be left behind. That is why we have had our National Artificial Intelligence Taskforce set up, and it gave us a report and our Ministry of Education is one of the first in the world to have an AI policy in education; that is a big deal. What that says is that we are not afraid of the new technology; we are using it and we are encouraging it,” she said.
The Minister noted, as well, that the HEART/NSTA Trust will be introducing a Prompt Engineering Course.
“That’s like one of the most important courses in AI going forward. This course will train students and public servants in AI tools to give our workforce an opportunity to equip itself to be able to use AI and leverage AI and to work smarter,” she said.
Senator Morris Dixon further disclosed that the country’s first state-of-the-art artificial intelligence lab will be launched this year.
“Many countries are just dreaming of that. We are partnering with the Amber Group, where developers, researchers and students can create Jamaican-led AI solutions,” the Minister said.
She added also that the Jamaica Learning Assistant (JLA) Programme will be rolled out in the coming months. The JLA will adapt lessons to each student’s unique learning style, whether they understand concepts through detailed explanations, humour, poems, mind maps, AI-generated animated story-based visuals, interactive questions and answers, quizzes or by conversing with a human-like AI tutor.
Meanwhile, the Minister said six Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) schools will be built across the country, noting that they will be equipped with cutting-edge technology.
“We are not building six STEM schools for just a few elite people, it is very important to note that STEM is a part of our national standard curriculum; we have infused STEM in every single way that we teach,” she noted.
She added that the Government continues to invest in STEM labs in the country’s 14 technical high schools.
“In our STEM education, we have given laptops, a lot of interactive panels… [Approximately] 700 of our schools have internet and we are now rolling out Wi-Fi so that the students can get access to the internet and not just the office,” she said.
Senator Morris Dixon added that the rollout of the Education Management Information System (EMIS) will continue this year.
She also noted that the Government is making major investments in literacy and numeracy.
“We are using more teaching hours, more hands-on interventions and more technologies to give our students that extra helping hand, and that’s very important because literacy is a concern I have and we cannot allow our children to leave school not numerate and literate,” the Minister said.
She added that targeted interventions such as extended learning hours and hands- on support, are being used to improve performance at 56 high schools and 189 primary schools.