UNESCO Marks International Day of Education 2025 with Focus on Artificial Intelligence

UNESCO Marks International Day of Education 2025 with Focus on Artificial Intelligence 
 
UNESCO’s Director-General Audrey Azoulay has declared that Friday, January 24, International Education Day 2025, will be devoted to examining the potential and challenges of artificial intelligence (AI) in education.  
Azoulay has urged UNESCO member states to invest in educating teachers and students about the proper use of artificial intelligence (AI), stressing that this quickly developing technology should improve rather than replace the social and human elements of education. 
“AI offers major opportunities for education, provided that its deployment in schools is guided by clear ethical principles. It must become a tool at the service of teachers and pupils, with the primary objective being their autonomy and well-being,” Azoulay stated. 
The organisation intends to host global conversations on AI’s role in education, including high-profile conferences in Paris and New York, and a webinar designed to engage educators, politicians, and stakeholders globally. 
 
AI in Education: Progress Amid Uncertainty 
AI is gradually making its presence felt in classrooms around the world. In high-income nations, more than two-thirds of secondary school students currently use generative AI tools for academic work, and teachers use technology to prepare classes and grade projects. Additionally, AI is changing processes like school guidance and admissions, which were formerly handled by educators. 
Even with these developments, many schools and universities still lack clear AI usage frameworks. Just 10% of the 450 universities surveyed by UNESCO in 2023 had formal rules for implementing AI. Only fifteen countries had included AI education goals in their national curricula by 2022, and only seven had created AI training programmes for teachers. 
In the meantime, a greater number of countries are restricting the use of computers in the classroom. Nearly 40% of countries have laws or policies prohibiting cell phones in classrooms, up from 24% in the middle of 2023, according to UNESCO. 
 
Balancing AI Innovation with Ethical Standards 
For a long time, UNESCO has led the charge in tackling the challenges raised by AI. The organisation’s member states adopted the first global guideline on AI ethics in 2021. More recently, in September 2023, UNESCO released its Guidance for Generative AI in Education and Research and two competency frameworks for teachers and students in 2024, providing helpful suggestions for the ethical and safe application of AI.  
To ensure its ethical use, one of these suggestions is to set a 13-year-old age limit for AI use in classrooms. 
 
Azoulay stated that governments must provide additional resources for AI in education without diverting funds from essential requirements like well-equipped classrooms and teachers who are paid and trained appropriately. The fundamentals of education continue to be a global priority, as evidenced by the fact that 60% of elementary schools lack internet connection and one in four still lack power, according to UNESCO. 
 
A Vision for the Future 
UNESCO aims to promote a fair, ethical, and inclusive approach to incorporating AI into classrooms around the world by dedicating International Education Day 2025 to this topic. By promoting innovation and maintaining the vital human connection in education, the effort hopes to make sure AI becomes a tool that empowers teachers and students. 
With discussions taking place on a global scale, this year’s International Education Day promises to set the tone for how technology and humanity can work together to define the future of education.