The Ministry of National Education clearly has a problem with planning and consistency in its decisions. The two latest measures taken by this department are proof of this. In a press release released on Thursday, September 18, Minister Moustapha Guirassy invited Senegalese schools to adopt artificial intelligence. "...the Ministry of National Education (MEN) encourages, from this back-to-school period, the progressive, ethical, and inclusive integration of AI into teaching practices," the press release states. Four days later, the department issued another memo banning the use of phones in schools. Two contradictory decisions in 96 hours.

 

In its assessment of the facts, Cosydep did not fail to note this paradox. "In its analysis, the Coalition noted that the circular on the use of telephones came a few days after the one on the introduction of artificial intelligence in schools. This observation calls for these two measures to be brought into line."

 

When the minister encourages stakeholders to adopt AI, he knows that the conditions are far from being met to give all students the same opportunities. The press release also notes a lack of precision. Should we start with high school, CEM (formerly the Cem), or primary school? Or should it be all levels of education at once? Nothing specific. Yet, if we take the case of primary school, there are many establishments that don't have a computer room, here in the heart of Dakar. As for the interior of the country, let's not even talk about it, because CEM (formerly the Cem) and high schools struggle to have even a single computer. Other schools don't know what connection means since they don't have access to electricity.

How can AI be introduced into teaching practices under these conditions? It's argued that the only tool that can reach the maximum number of students remains the telephone, even if it will also leave thousands of students behind. The ministry itself seems to be moving in this direction in its argument. "The popular uses of tools like WhatsApp, even in remote areas, show that there are still occasional opportunities for connection and access to information."

But now the ministry has banned the use of phones in schools. We wonder what WhatsApp experiment he's talking about? Will there be a WhatsApp application on the board or on desks in Senegal? Would it be possible to create artificial intelligence on slates? We don't understand anything anymore.

Added to this, the decision seems to have come on a whim. The ministry had the entire vacation period, and even the entire past school year, to not only hold the debate, but also identify the actions needed to make the use of AI effective by the start of the next school year. Instead, Moustapha Guirassy and his men waited until two weeks before the start of classes to announce the decision. And they want the public to believe that it is possible to implement everything by October.

For example, the ministry announced a training program for 105,000 teachers starting this September. However, as of today, September 25, nothing has been done in this regard. One wonders which September are we talking about? Even the teachers who are supposed to implement the measure are taken by surprise.

The minister also announced the distribution "in the coming days" of 5,000 computers for students in the first and final years of high school in the S1 and S3 series. The case of the UVS and other initiatives such as "one student, one computer" show how slow this process is and can take months. This means that support measures are not coming soon due to a lack of preparation. All this without taking into account the fact that the choice made for scientific series excludes literary students from AI opportunities.

 

Unfortunately, the Minister of Education is starting to accustom us to decisions that seem to come out of the blue. Last year, it was the same with the introduction of English in primary schools. Guirassy waited until the start of the school year to announce the measure. And it was from October onwards that interested teachers had to be selected, trained, and the modalities discussed at the same time. We recall that discussions had stumbled over this last point and that ultimately the teachers were divided into two camps. Not to mention the delay in the start.

The same is true of the armed forces-nations high schools. We wake up one day and decide that the technical high schools already built (Kaffrine, Sédhiou, etc.) and which are supposed to be operational by the start of the school year are no longer what they were built for. They will now be armed forces-nation high schools, without anyone knowing the real content other than the fact that they want to teach civics, patriotism, and military virtues.

Technical high schools are thus being diverted from their primary purpose without consultation and without a plausible explanation.

Certainly, it must be recognized that on many issues, the minister is in dialogue with education stakeholders. He is more open than many of his predecessors. He must therefore maintain this focus on major decisions instead of announcing them without consultation and especially without any preparation and sometimes therefore without any coherence.