- Dr Wycliffe Osabwa examines whether growing reliance on AI could weaken learners’ independent thinking.
- He argues that technology should support learning without replacing essential cognitive tasks and human agency.
- Clear institutional guidelines, he says, are necessary to guide responsible AI use across education.
A fortnight ago, two international reports on education were released, raising critical questions. One, from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), focused on the performance of learners in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), while the other, from UNESCO, examined the growing place of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in education.
Although the reports addressed different issues, they converged on one important concern: what is happening to learning, thinking and human agency in an increasingly technology-driven world?
UNESCO’s report, The Algorithm in the Room: Seeing and Confronting the Implications of AI for the Future of Education, is particularly instructive. It acknowledged what educators already know from experience: AI has entered education spaces and is rapidly changing how we learn, teach, complete assignments and produce knowledge.
More troubling, however, is that education stakeholders have not kept pace with these developments. According to UNESCO, there has been insufficient scrutiny of the assumptions, values, biases and commercial interests embedded in AI systems.
The report raised critical questions for education: Who has agency, autonomy and oversight over the use of AI in schools and universities? How might AI influence the relational, emotional and cognitive development of young people? What should remain meaningful and relevant in pedagogy and assessment when machines can generate essays, solve mathematical problems and summarise books?
More fundamentally, how will AI influence the way learners think, question and imagine their future?
These questions relate to us, where digital technologies are becoming increasingly embedded in education. From basic education to universities, learners now have access to smartphones, online resources, generative AI apps and digital learning platforms.
Yet access to technology does not automatically translate into better learning. The critical issue is how technology is used and what happens to the learner’s own thinking in the process.
UNESCO offers three useful guides. First, students and education practitioners need to understand where algorithms operate and recognise that AI systems are not neutral. They are human-made and hence reflect human choices, preferences, assumptions and biases. An AI-generated response may therefore sound convincing while still being inaccurate, incomplete or biased.
Second, educators need professional autonomy to determine the pedagogical purposes for which AI should be used. There will be situations in which AI can support learning and others in which its use should be restricted or prohibited.
Third, education stakeholders should have a voice in shaping the purposes, assumptions, data and instructions that govern AI systems affecting education. AI policy cannot simply be left to technology companies, governments or software developers.
Declining learner performance
At almost the same time, the OECD released findings from PISA that provide another reason for reflection. Across OECD countries, learner performance showed substantial declines over the decade from 2015 to 2025. Reading performance fell by 28 points, mathematics by 22 points and science by 7 points.
The findings reinforce the importance of strong foundations in reading, mathematics and science if learners are to think critically, learn independently and use emerging technologies such as AI effectively.
It is tempting to blame these declines entirely on technology, particularly smartphones, social media and AI. The relationship between technology and learning is complex, and many factors influence educational outcomes.
Nevertheless, the timing of the decline deserves attention. Smartphones and tablets became widespread from around 2010, while smartphones, mobile applications and social media became deeply embedded in everyday life during the years that followed. By 2015, individuals were spending increasing amounts of time on screens.
The concern, therefore, is not technology itself but what excessive or poorly regulated technology use may displace. Time that could have been spent reading, writing, discussing and solving problems can easily be replaced by constant scrolling and passive consumption.
If learners increasingly outsource memory, writing, calculation and even reasoning to machines, educators must ask what happens to the cognitive abilities that those activities were intended to develop.
Kenya needs clear AI guidelines
Kenya therefore needs a deliberate conversation about AI and education. We hear impressive speeches about AI at conferences, seminars and education functions. But beyond the speeches, what practical guidance are we giving teachers, lecturers, parents and learners?
What should a Kenyan university student be allowed to do with ChatGPT or another generative AI tool when writing an assignment? Can AI be used for brainstorming, improving language, developing an outline or identifying gaps in an argument? What should a student disclose? Which aspects of an assignment must remain demonstrably the student’s own work?
These are not merely questions of academic integrity. They are questions about what education is for.
Universities, for instance, need clear institution-wide frameworks covering privacy, attribution, transparency and responsible AI use. Such frameworks can provide common expectations while allowing individual lecturers to determine how AI should be used within particular disciplines.
A medical student, a philosophy student, an engineering student and a teacher trainee may legitimately require different forms of AI engagement. Institutional policy should therefore provide direction without unnecessarily undermining the professional judgment of educators.
But most importantly, which cognitive tasks can learners safely delegate to AI, and which must they continue to perform themselves?
If AI helps a student generate ideas but the student evaluates, questions and develops them, it may strengthen learning. If, however, AI does the reasoning and writing while the student merely submits the final product, then technology may have made the task easier while turning the learner into a hollow reed.
READ ALSO: Narok County Library donates books to five schools
The task before education is therefore not merely to teach learners how to use AI, but how to remain human, critical and intellectually independent while using it.
By Dr Wycliffe Osabwa
Dr Wycliffe Osabwa is a Lecturer of Educational Foundations at Alupe University.
Email: wosabwa680@gmail.com
Get more stories from our website: Education News
To write to us or offer feedback, you can reach us at: editor@educationnews.co.ke
You can also follow our social media pages on Twitter: Education News KE and Facebook: Education News Newspaper for timely updates.
>> Click here to stay up-to-date with trending regional stories
