From Commitment to Action: Advancing the use of AI in education in Africa through regional collaboration and knowledge-sharing
“Digital education and artificial intelligence are key levers for transforming our education systems. Let's unite our efforts to tackle this decisive turning point together” — Mr. Moustapha Mamba Guirassy, former Minister of Communication, Telecommunications and ICT, H.E., Senegal

Recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI), such as generative AI and deep learning, have not only greatly increased the power and scope of AI applications, but have also made them more readily accessible to the average person. Perhaps the most famous example of this in recent times is ChatGPT. Its release in 2022 led to a flurry of interest among the media, financial stakeholders, policymakers and the public, as the potential applications (and pitfalls) of AI in daily life, including education, began to emerge.
It is fitting, therefore, that the theme of the 2025 International Day of Education, observed annually on January 24, is “AI and Education: Preserving human agency in a world of automation.” This year’s day of observance highlights the critical need to reflect on the use and application of AI in education and to collect more evidence and increase knowledge exchange on how education can equip communities and individuals, including teachers and students, to engage effectively with AI-enabled technologies and shape the future of automation.
The potential benefits and risks of using AI in education
AI has the potential to address some of the biggest challenges in education. According to the UNESCO publication AI and Education: Guidance for policy-makers, potential applications of AI in education can be categorized as (i) education management and delivery; (ii) lifelong learning; (iii) empowering teachers and enhancing teaching; and (iv) learning and assessment. For example, AI can help support individualized education and the inclusion of students with disabilities, improve access to learning in students’ mother tongues, support curricula development and learning, and support school-level administrative tasks, such as scheduling.
However, the application of AI in educational contexts also introduces a variety of risks. AI can reinforce structural inequalities and bias, widen the digital divide, perpetuate gender imbalances and inequities, create privacy concerns — in particular, for minors — and introduce other unknown risks and unintended consequences into education systems.
The African Union’s recent Continental Artificial Intelligence Strategy recognizes both AI’s potential to benefit education and the associated risks and concerns. The strategy identifies education as one of the priority sectors for AI expansion, but it also calls for more knowledge about AI use cases, policies and competency frameworks in education and more sharing of evidence-based successful practices. Sharing and learning from experiences of successful evidenced-based application of technologies in education, and more specifically the use of AI-enabled technologies, among peer countries is one of the regional priorities (in French only) identified by the African francophone member countries of the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) Knowledge and Innovation Exchange (KIX) Africa 21 Hub (in French only).
Responsible and inclusive AI: What is it and what are concrete evidence-based examples of its application in education in Africa?
Responsible and inclusive AI is the practice of designing, developing and deploying AI systems that are safe, equitable, rights-based and sustainable. This practice aligns with information presented in UNESCO’s Guidance for Generative AI in Education and Research (2023), Recommendations on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence (2021) and Beijing Consensus on Artificial Intelligence and Education (2019).
The International Development Research Centre (IDRC) of Canada is supporting both demand-driven responsible AI innovations and policy and research and knowledge exchange on their effective and responsible implementation through a variety of programs made available via organizations based in the Global South and Africa, including the Artificial Intelligence for Development (AI4D) and GPE KIX.
For example, AI4D has supported the use of AI-enabled assistive technologies for learners with physical disabilities. One of those technologies is a tool developed by Maseno University that translates between English and Kenyan sign language to facilitate communication between Deaf students and their peers and teachers. This tool was developed in collaboration with Deaf communities to improve inclusion of Deaf students in schools where most students were not Deaf. Several other supported projects leverage machine translation and text-to-speech technologies to make educational content in English, French and local languages more accessible for neurodiverse learners and learners with visual impairments.
RobotsMali, an IDRC-supported educational non-profit in Mali, used a combination of ChatGPT, machine translation and human editors to produce over 180 culturally relevant children’s books in less than a year in Bambara, a local Malian language. The organization estimates that its production costs were a fraction of what they would have been had they used other methods to create the books. This project has had a significant impact, as many Malian people speak Bambara, but very few can read or write it, partly because of a lack of educational materials. The books produced by the RobotsMali initiative are a first step in promoting literacy in Bambara and preserving the traditional language.
Similarly, GPE KIX project, Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Teacher and student education for Primary Schools (STEPS), combined Open Educational Resources (OER) and AI in the development of high-quality, culturally relevant Science textbooks for primary school in Benin, Cameroon and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). AI tools assisted in drafting initial content based on each country’s curriculum requirements, suggested culturally relevant examples and contexts, and aided in the translation and localization of materials.
These innovations offer concrete examples of responsible and inclusive use of AI in education in Africa led by organizations based in the Global South that are making responsible choices to drive progress toward the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. However, if we are to realize the true potential of educational innovations to support students’ learning, we must also work on supporting the direct implementation of AI-enabled tools into education systems.
Moving from innovation to implementation in education systems: Preparing students and teachers to engage effectively with AI-enabled technologies
Recent efforts have focused on the essential step of educating policymakers and decision-makers on both the risks and potential benefits of using AI. For example, AI4D-supported NIYEL has been conducting important advocacy work with governments in francophone Africa since mid-2022 to deepen parliamentarians’ understanding of AI and promote responsible AI policies. The Continental Artificial Intelligence Strategy recognizes that, if AI is to be widely adopted in education in Africa, it is essential not only to formulate inclusive national policies or strategies related to AI, but also to support member States in developing national AI competencies for teachers and students and to invest in capacity-strengthening initiatives in AI technologies, coding and data science for educators and students.
In October 2024, as part of their work to facilitate cross-country knowledge exchange and mobilization, learning and collaboration among key national education stakeholders, GPE KIX Africa 21 Hub and UNESCO co-organized a seminar on digital and AI competencies for teachers and students in Dakar, Senegal. The event followed the launch of IA et éducation : guide pour les décideurs politiques, the French translation of AI and Education: A guide for policymakers, during Digital Learning Week in September 2024.
Ministers of Education and representatives from 25 francophone and lusophone African countries participated in this two-day seminar, the aim of which was to facilitate multi-stakeholder dialogue about digital and AI competencies and encourage countries to commit to digital competencies development. The event built on UNESCO’s AI Competency Framework for Students and AI Competency Framework for Teachers, which aim to empower these stakeholders to use AI responsibly and thoughtfully and ensure that it contributes positively to society and the environment.
Case studies from African countries including Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire and Cameroon and best practices in digital education and AI competencies were shared. Professor Mamadou Kaba Traoré, Deputy Director of the Integration from Material to System (IMS) lab at the University of Bordeaux, led workshops designed to help country representatives reflect on and develop AI competency frameworks tailored to their national contexts. Professor Traoré explained that “skills repositories are highly relevant tools for drawing up an inventory of required skills on the basis of which educational strategies can be devised, and for assessing strengths and needs to define required training initiatives. However, difficulties remain in properly identifying these skills, as well as in structuring a rational process for implementing reference systems from their conception to their operationalization in training programs.”
Committing to ongoing support for responsible AI innovations and integration in education systems
During the seminar, country representatives made a strong commitment to address the challenges associated with developing and operationalizing national AI skills repositories, with a focus on collaboration and synergy between countries.
According to Professor Traoré, “what remains to be done is a pedagogical alignment, in particular matching the skills identified during the workshops with the proposed levers, as well as prioritizing and sequencing the actions to be carried out over time.”
In response to the countries’ stated commitment, IDRC will continue, through its AI4D program and through GPE KIX, to facilitate the development of responsible AI education policies and innovations in Africa and to facilitate knowledge exchange and country support. Given the level of commitment shown by country representatives who attended the seminar, GPE KIX Africa 21 Hub indicated that as of 2025, future initiatives would place an emphasis on the integration of AI into the education systems of the countries concerned.