The role of teachers has been inextricably linked to societal progress, with technological advancements often serving as catalysts for educational transformation.
By Yesh Surjoodeen, MD of HP Southern Africa
From the advent of the printing press to the introduction of computers in classrooms, educators who embraced emerging technologies have consistently positioned themselves – and their students – at the forefront of innovation and opportunity.
Artificial intelligence (AI) represents the inevitable next frontier in education—with the potential to democratise learning and narrow the digital skills gap, regardless of location or socioeconomic status.
For South African educators, AI holds a particular promise as a tool to alleviate persistent administrative burdens and create more time for meaningful, student-focused teaching.
Administratively, teachers often face challenges like managing large volumes of grading, tracking attendance, planning lessons, and maintaining detailed records of student performance—all of which consume significant time and detract from direct teaching.
AI has the potential to lighten these pressures by automating repetitive tasks like marking assignments, generating real-time analytics on student progress, and offering dynamic lesson-planning tools tailored to class needs. By streamlining these processes, AI can free teachers to focus on personalised instruction, fostering creativity, and addressing individual student needs.
This will ultimately redefine how education is delivered and experienced.
Adaptive learning platforms, powered by AI, can potentially personalise instruction for each student by analysing their strengths, weaknesses, and learning pace. This customisation ensures that, for example, advanced learners are continuously challenged, while students who need additional support receive targeted resources, creating an equitable learning environment.
Teachers, supported by these platforms, can act as facilitators, guiding students through individualised learning journeys rather than relying on a one-size-fits-all approach.
However, the transformative potential of AI hinges on its thoughtful integration with human-led teaching.
Education is inherently a relational and social process, and while AI can provide content delivery, assessment, and feedback at scale, it cannot replicate the nuance, empathy, and creativity that human educators bring to the classroom.
For instance, while an AI system might identify a student struggling with a mathematical concept and provide tailored exercises to address the issue, it is the teacher who interprets the emotional and social factors that might underlie the struggle.
Similarly, in discussions of complex topics like ethics, history, or literature, teachers guide students through nuanced perspectives, helping them develop critical reasoning and moral judgment – dimensions that are beyond algorithmic capabilities.
Yet, the transformative promise of AI in education rests on foundational infrastructure—an area where South Africa faces significant gaps.
According to the National Education Infrastructure Management System report of 2021, only 4 695 of South Africa’s 23 258 primary and high schools – including 2 154 independent schools – had internet connectivity for teaching and learning. This means that just 20% of schools provided online access for educators and students, while a staggering 80% – equating to 18 563 schools – remained without such connectivity.
Additionally, 6 770 schools (29%) were connected to the internet exclusively for administrative purposes, leaving no infrastructure to support digital teaching and learning.
While government has made commendable strides in bridging this connectivity gap, these efforts remain insufficient to support the widespread adoption of AI in education. Achieving meaningful integration will require not only expanding internet access but also ensuring that schools are equipped with the necessary digital infrastructure and teacher training to harness AI’s full potential.
This necessitates a dual-pronged approach to investment: immediate efforts to expand internet access to underserved schools and concurrent strategies to utilise existing connectivity more holistically. National initiatives must prioritise equitable distribution of resources, ensuring rural and township schools are not perpetually sidelined.
Government efforts should align with private sector initiatives to accelerate infrastructure rollout, while public-private partnerships could subsidise internet access and AI resources for disadvantaged schools. Policies should also encourage localised innovation, fostering AI solutions that address South Africa’s unique educational challenges.
Then there’s the matter of reskilling South African teachers to navigate AI-driven tools effectively and integrate them meaningfully into their teaching practices—and now is the time to do so.
This requires a dual focus on technical skills and what some education experts call “AI literacy” – the ability to critically engage with the technology’s capabilities, limitations, and ethical implications. Government initiatives, private sector partnerships, and teacher unions all have roles to play in this regard.
Professional development programmes must be accessible, affordable, and tailored to address the specific challenges faced by teachers in under-resourced schools and these programmes should not only provide technical training but also create forums for educators to share best practices, collaborate on integrating AI tools, and build confidence in using technology to enhance their teaching.
Some companies have already begun offering initiatives to equip teachers with the skills and resources needed to integrate AI into their classrooms.
The HP AI Teacher Academy, for example, is a course that helps teachers identify ways to integrate AI literacy into their teaching practices, understand their ethical responsibilities, and select tools that are safe and effective for their learners.
The company’s Innovation and Digital Education Academy (IDEA) programme, in collaboration with Intel, has also been running successfully across Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia — offering educators the opportunity to create digital capabilities based on educational frameworks from leading global universities.
In South Africa, this programme is implemented with the Umlambo Foundation.
As technology evolves, so too must pedagogy, with educators standing as the critical bridge between innovation and its meaningful application in human development. Without this alignment, South African education risks stagnation, failing to prepare learners for the realities of a rapidly changing world.