Lebanon’s AI ambitions face classroom test
AI and technology proficiencies are needed to boost the country's economic growth, but as the education system struggles, student reliance on chatbots for learning is growing.
Lebanese students are turning to artificial intelligence for schoolwork even as many struggle to master basic skills, creating a disconnect that could pose a challenge in a crisis-stricken country betting on technology to help rebuild its economy.
Results released in September by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) found that 48% of 15-year-old students in Lebanon used AI chatbots for schoolwork at least once a week, slightly above the OECD average of 46%. Yet only 22% of these same Lebanese students attained minimum reading proficiency, compared with 69% across OECD countries.
“Results for Lebanon are quite shocking in terms of showing that Lebanese students are amongst the highest users of AI, and at the same time come out amongst the lowest for computational problem solving,” said Clem Brown, CEO of the Beirut-based educational nonprofit CodeBrave. Founded in 2018, her organization works with teachers and students to bring computer science, and now AI, education to public and underserved schools across Lebanon.
Computational problem-solving refers to the capacity to use digital tools to explore systems, represent ideas and solve complex problems. The PISA evaluation showed that just 21% of Lebanese students had baseline proficiency in this area, compared to the 64% OECD average. One example of the technique PISA used to assess students was an experiment that tasked them with learning how to program a robotic claw to move objects from one place to another, mimicking a recycling plant.
