Enabling students with artificial intelligence tools is a guarantee for their future career development

The Minister of Education, Sarah bint Youssef Al Amiri, confirmed that the United Arab Emirates views education as one of the most important tools for comprehensive development, which is translated by the large amount of investment in the national education sector as an effective means of ensuring the competitiveness of future generations in their various future paths.

In this context, Al Amiri explained that the UAE is dealing with the rapid global developments in the field of artificial intelligence based on its keenness to keep pace with global developments and harness them to serve its ambitious development goals, noting that artificial intelligence has become a necessity and not an option, which requires preparing future generations and empowering them in the fields of artificial intelligence in light of the profound changes that the global labor market is witnessing as a result of the transformations brought about by artificial intelligence in the traditional paths of future careers for students.

This came during Al Amiri’s participation in a dialogue session on the impact of artificial intelligence on students’ future careers within the activities of the World Economic Forum, which was launched in the Swiss city of Davos yesterday and continues until January 23.

An elite group of global intellectual leaders participated in the dialogue session, including Professor of Economics at the London School of Economics and winner of the 2010 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences, Professor Christopher Pissarides, the founder of the DeepLearning.AI platform, Dr. Andrew Ng, and Himanshu Balsoli, CEO of Cornerstone OnDemand.

Sarah Al Amiri stressed during the session that the United Arab Emirates is adopting a proactive approach based on aligning the outcomes of the educational system with the skills of future professions and the requirements of the labor market, noting that the Ministry of Education, during the current academic year, introduced the artificial intelligence subject in government schools for all students from kindergarten to the twelfth grade, to include more than 264,000 male and female students, with the support of more than 1,000 specialized teachers, explaining that this step aims to graduate generations of students. Able to understand how to deal with artificial intelligence systems in a practical way, and how to use its tools effectively, taking into account the importance of including supervision, responsibility, and safe use in the management of artificial intelligence as it is indispensable.

Al Amiri pointed out that artificial intelligence will reshape career paths in the future, which requires empowering learners with its tools in a systematic manner, which qualifies them to deal and integrate into the labor markets efficiently and responsibly, without any challenges. She stressed that the Ministry is working to align learning and assessment outcomes in the UAE with the requirements of the future economy, by focusing on students’ 21st century skills, such as critical thinking, finding solutions to challenges, teamwork, and effective communication.

Sarah Al Amiri revealed that the Ministry has developed many adaptive educational platforms that support personal learning paths and was keen to promote applied learning through national initiatives and specialized competitions in artificial intelligence and robotics with the aim of moving students from the stage of receiving knowledge to producing it.

Regarding teachers, she indicated that the Ministry is investing in developing their capabilities, through organized national programs for competency-based professional development, in addition to strategic partnerships aimed at enhancing teachers’ confidence in employing artificial intelligence to design and adapt lessons and raise educational productivity, while emphasizing the importance of balancing educational aspects with technical training, explaining that the strength and sustainability of the curriculum depends primarily on the teacher’s capabilities and competence.

Al Amiri noted that the Ministry has developed a unified approach for the safe and responsible use of generative artificial intelligence within the school environment, based on clear regulatory frameworks for each age group, with a focus on providing data protection requirements and enhancing transparency, to ensure benefiting from the opportunities provided by artificial intelligence.