Education in the Age of Artificial Intelligence (AI): Bridging of Expanding Social Inequality

Artificial Intelligence-enabled solutions can help identify the key areas of improvement in the education space, while analyzing the needs of each student in a personalized manner, to help every student derive the benefits of education, which can help bridge the socioeconomic inequities in the country. Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) models are rapidly impacting all sectors that touch human lives in a myriad of ways. The education system, being integral to one’s self-development, is witnessing a huge opportunity. Education becomes a tool of equality when it ensures equal access, equal quality, and equal outcomes across socio-economic, gender, and regional lines. This lies in improving the efficiency of teachers inside classrooms, by automating their activities of grading assignments, resolving students’ queries, and conducting assessments. The knowledge background and desired outcome from education play a major role in determining the learning effectiveness. Since each of these factors is specifically unique for each student, an ideal learning system cannot have a one-size-fits-all approach and must adapt to the students. Artificial Intelligence algorithms can record and track the academic and non-academic progress of students in a school and identify those who need additional attention in specific areas. The Artificial Intelligence-based digital solutions can autonomously formulate revision curriculums and learning frameworks, personalized for such students. Such applications can also assist the teachers with a customized data-driven lesson plan that can help the teacher connect with the student on a personal note and provide pedagogical interventions in the correct area. Challenges do exist in the implementation of the Artificial Intelligence solutions. The stakeholders and policymakers have to understand that Artificial Intelligence is not a substitute, but a supplement to the classroom teaching programmes.