AS the world continues to evolve digitally, President Dr Irfaan Ali has announced that the government is working to transition the entire education platform to an online one, within a year or less, using Artificial Intelligence (AI).

The President made this announcement on Friday at the official launch of the Guyanese Coursera Platform where he pointed out that the aim is to ease the rigidity of learning and ensure that all have an ample opportunity to pursue an education.

“The world is moving away from the concept of rigidity of learning… the rigidity of learning is giving way to the ease of learning because the nature of the workforce is changing.”

Furthermore, Dr Ali rebalancing in the workplace will be needed in the future, meaning, instead of deploying persons to university first then to the working world, university should be brought to the labour force.

But what is the government doing to make this a reality?

To further advance the ease of learning, the Head of State said, “We have agreed in cabinet that we are now working on a programme to make our entire education infrastructure modules, learning curriculum, teaching aids. With the aid of AI we’re looking to move it to a fully electronic online platform.”

He added: “So, there will be continuous learning anytime in the day that comprise of 24 hours and we were looking for your help because you have developed a platform globally within one year…We want to move our learning in nursery, primary and secondary school on a fully electronic online system that is accessible to parents and children 24 hours every day.”

With the integration of technology, he said that this will improve accessibility and make learning easier.

Already, the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) government has rolled out measures that will ensure that Guyana is on this path.

For instance, under the Ali-led administration, teachers regardless of where they reside, are given the opportunity to become trained teachers using an online platform.

Meanwhile, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Coursera Inc, Jeff Maggioncalda, said that with the rise of generative AI jobs, this has resulted in the reshaping of jobs and skill requirements, etc.
“This change is bringing opportunities and threats and the difference between change being an opportunity and threat is the level of access to education [and] that is being delivered by this government to the citizens of this country,” the CEO said.

He stated that through their partnership with the Commonwealth of Learning and Guyana’s Ministry of Education, Guyana has set a record among all of the countries on Coursera.

“We saw 15,000 enrollments from Guyanese learners, almost two per cent of the entire population of the country in the first 10 days. Over 46,000, Guyanese citizens have learned new skills through the programme, earning over 50,000 certificates in job-related fields including business, technology, and data science,” he stated.

The CEO added that the relationship between Guyana and Coursera, which sprung in 2020, served as “an early testament to the country’s innovative leadership and profound appetite of the citizens of Guyana to learn new skills despite challenges.”

With every Guyanese now being given the opportunity to gain access to first-class education, Maggioncalda, said that he has no doubt that the nation’s palate for education will result in economic growth that only a few countries have ever experienced.