Bea Allyson Alimangohan

The Department of Education (DepEd) Secretary Sonny Angara has emphasized the importance of developing policies for the ethical use of artificial intelligence (AI) in educational settings in the University of the Philippines' (UP) ‘AI Horizons PH 2024’ Conference on Oct. 25.

Photo Courtesy of Rappler.

“We at DepEd are really studying the possibilities with AI. It really has many benefits both for teachers and students,” Angara stated in an ambush interview.

In a previous conference, the ‘2024 Social Good Summit’ in De La Salle University on October 19, Angara also highlighted the power of technology, especially, AI in improving the education system in the country.

“Technology is fast—becoming the fuel that powers our education,” Angara noted, emphasizing that technology will make lessons more relevant and entertaining for both teachers and students.

DepEd collaborated with various innovative software companies, including Khan Academy, I AM The Code, and Canva, to be ‘the cutting edge’ in improving learning techniques.

With the emerging use of AI, DepEd intended to customize the training curriculum to online courses and virtual communities which typically consisted of one speaker and a lot of teachers

Although Angara recognized the advantages of using AI such as saving time for teachers and advanced studying for students, he also mentioned the downside of using it.

“Students must respect and follow if, say, the teacher told them that they cannot use AI,” Angara added.

According to Angara, teachers should be up to date on technology and have control over the identification of AI work in student outputs.

DepEd looks forward to policies that limit and effectively employ AI and technology in our educational system, benefiting teachers and students in an ethical manner.