The Philippines Should Not be Ready For AI Education: Here’s Why

By: Geromae Hope A. de la Fuente

With the ever-increasing integration of artificial intelligence in the various
industries present in modern Philippine society, it should not come as a surprise that the
education sector is currently looking at a future where physical classrooms and tedious
lectures are a thing of the past, especially when the current administration is proactively
making ways to introduce AI through securing millions of investments in leading
companies.
Despite this seemingly good news, the question on achievement of quality
education, higher literacy skills, humane employment and working conditions, and the
existence of human essence in teaching remains.
Last September, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. was reported to have finished
business meetings with leading companies that cater to industries such as animal health,
AI, and digital connectivity in Indonesia. PT WIR Asia Tbk. specializes in developing
augmented reality technology, considered to be the country’s first Metaverse company.
While no reports stating the reasons for Marcos’ investment, and sudden interest,
in AI have been released just yet, it is imperative to know that in the past months, talks
about this phenomenon in the Philippines have gradually increased, triggered by the
controversy of GMA launching their AI sportscasters that serve as an indicator of threats
in employment not just in the field of journalism, but in other industries as well. The
belief that tasks unwanted to be done by people should resort to automation sets a
dangerous precedent for all sectors.
But why is it that now, discussions on the integration of AI in the education sector
have become more encountered than ever?
In an article of Dale Arasa of Inquirer.net, the author stated that educational
technology provider GoStudent commissioned a research predicting how British students
are expected to learn in two decades. The findings of the study revealed that digital
learning will replace classrooms, AI will take over tasks humans do not like doing, virtual
reality is expected to create fully immersive experiences for education, and by 2050s, the
existence of brain implants that deliver knowledge by “downloading it directly to one’s
brain” will very much be possible. All of these start with just one move of further
embracing new technologies that make learning more efficient, effective, and convenient
－a phenomenon so inevitable that to even try going against it feels like denying fate in
the first place.
As they stated in their paper, the future of education is the end of school as we
know it.
While the scope of the research was mainly centered on Britain, it is not a stretch
to believe that this reality could very much be the realities of different countries soon
when it comes to the field of education. The Philippines, evidenced by Marcos’ millions
of investments towards AI, is already potentially bridging this initiative. And although it
sounds like a good idea as students can learn anytime, anywhere they may be, adopting
such automation-based measures of learning provides more disadvantages when it comes
to the quality of learning Filipino students may achieve.
For one, Filipinos thrive in a sense of community. To subject learners into
isolation and let them study alone virtually takes away not just the cultural identity of our
people, but also the human aspect of learning in the students’ eyes. The Covid-19
pandemic is already a testament to the learners’ need to be with people as they go through
their academic journey － a Pulse Asia survey revealed 94% of Filipinos prefer having
full face-to-face classes, the number of out-of-school youth tragically increased to 25.2%
in 2020, and the number of students needing help with their mental health climbed up.
Taking away physical classrooms where Filipino students learn in an environment where
their fellow learners are decreases their chance of thriving in education.
Furthermore, the Philippines is not yet ready to adopt such harsh methods of
learning, given the current status of literacy in the country. Until now, Filipino learners
are among those ranked lowest in terms of literacy in reading, basic Mathematics,
technology, and comprehension. Pushing for digital learning in a country filled with
learners who have yet to fulfill competencies required for their age and grade levels is
synonymous to traveling back in time to present cellphones to the early humans, in hopes
of them easily comprehending the existence of technology when all they have ever
known are the simple things in nature. This is counterproductive and will only ensure
doing more harm to the students’ status of learning than good thus, there continues to be
a need to study more about this potential educational phenomenon.
 When digital learning becomes the trend, it is not only students who are affected
but teachers as well. As the torchbearers to learning, digital education is an active threat
to their employment as there will be no need for human teachers to instruct students,
especially not when companies can just make AI professors that are more available 24/7
due to their lack of life. It seems ideal, of course, but taking away this specific human
aspect of learning produces learners who are robots. Above all, holistic education should
be the goal of each and every Filipino student. To learn through lifeless virtual professors
is to lose this desire, the sense of need to be a holistically formed individual, ready to be
good citizens who are able to actively contribute to nation-building.
The future of education sounds like a fever dream of someone aiming for a highly
modernized world reliant on the services that could be given by AI. While the integration
of such technology is inevitable to a certain degree, the fate of our learners lay on the
hands of those in power.
Before the Philippines starts with widely using AI for educational purposes and
getting into the trend of working towards digital education alongside other first-world
countries, the administration must recognize that there is a need for them to fix the status
quo of the education system. That beyond investing millions of the people’s money into
potentially harmful and counterproductive technology, lawmakers have to first enact laws
raising the wages of teachers who work hard to mold students into becoming future
professionals; for authorities to conceptualize and overhaul more measures centered on
ensuring that there will be an improvement in students’ literacy skills and reading
comprehension; for educational materials to be properly distributed among public schools
who need these supplies, instead of letting billions of purchase go to waste rotting in
warehouses, and; for the President to first fully acknowledge that the Philippine
education system is not up to par and does not produce the quality of learners expected
from those who are supposed to be globally competitive individuals.
Before AI, the Philippines must focus on developing the current system of
education in the country. Only when we finally achieve such improvement should we and
our officials have the luxury of dreaming about going beyond the existence of physical
classrooms.