MPR: Utilisation of AI in Education Must Strengthen Critical Thinking
Jakarta (ANTARA) - Deputy Speaker of the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) RI Lestari Moerdijat has emphasised that the utilisation of artificial intelligence (AI) in the education sector must be directed towards strengthening students’ critical thinking abilities, rather than replacing them.
“The utilisation of AI in the world of education cannot be avoided. However, its presence must be managed well so that it does not replace students’ critical thinking processes, but rather strengthens them,” said Lestari in a statement in Jakarta on Monday.
The statement responds to the issuance of a Joint Ministerial Decree (SKB) from seven ministers on Guidelines for the Utilisation of Digital Technology and Artificial Intelligence in the world of education.
The policy, set during a meeting chaired by the Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture Pratikno, involves cross-ministerial participation, from home affairs, communications and digital, basic education to higher education, religious affairs to women’s empowerment and child protection.
The guidelines regulate the utilisation of AI across all levels of education, both formal and informal, from early childhood education to higher education.
Lestari views this step as a strategic effort by the government to ensure that the utilisation of technology runs in a directed, safe manner and is able to address the challenges of digitalisation in the education sector.
According to her, the cross-ministerial regulation reflects seriousness in building a sustainable digital education ecosystem.
Nevertheless, she reminds that the implementation of the policy must be accompanied by strengthening digital literacy and ethics of technology use at all levels of education.
“Digital literacy and ethics of technology use must be a priority. Without that, the utilisation of AI could potentially cause dependency and reduce the quality of learning,” she said.
In addition, enhancing the capacity of educators is seen as key to ensuring that the utilisation of AI can run effectively in the teaching and learning process.
“Teachers must become facilitators who are able to guide the use of AI as a learning aid, not as a replacement for the learning process itself,” said Lestari.
She also emphasised the importance of periodic supervision and evaluation of the policy’s implementation so that the goal of creating a generation that is adaptive to technology while possessing critical reasoning can be achieved.
“Digital transformation in the education sector must proceed in a balanced manner between the utilisation of technology and the strengthening of students’ character and reasoning,” she said.