In Nigeria, students spend one year in preschool, six years in elementary school, three years in junior high school, three years in high school, and at least four years in college. Before Nigeria implemented such a system in 1989, the model had already been tried and tested with great success in China, Germany, and Ghana. However, there has never been a complete implementation of it in Nigeria. Despite the fact that each succeeding government has, in theory, upheld its aims, none of them has been able to successfully implement the program.

The educational system in Nigeria is facing multiple difficulties, including deterioration of its infrastructure, negligence, waste of resources, and deplorable conditions of service. There are almost 10 million youngsters in this country that are not enrolled in school.

That makes it the highest point anywhere in the world. Another 27 million youngsters who are now enrolled in schools are not doing very well. There are millions of Nigerians who only have a secondary education, and over 60 million people, or 30 percent of the population, cannot read or write. In addition to this, a large number of qualified young Nigerians are unable to enroll in the country’s public colleges. At the same time, high tuition rates, among other issues, constitute an impediment to the country’s private institutions.

According to Sid Nasnodkar, future investments in Artificial Intelligence can bring about a positive change to this scenario. “Nigeria has about 200 million in population with more than 500 spoken languages, making it one of the largest and most diverse groups in the world.

Creating an education system that caters to the need of such diverse population is not only difficult, but also needs state-of-the-art saleable technologies to sustain the present-day economy”, he says. The country ranks 7th in population, 3rd in number of spoken languages, and is one of the largest economies in Africa. “Leveraging technologies to improve quality of education creates a flywheel of human capital. Technology improves quality of education, and higher quality education produces better technology. This can greatly impact economic output”, he added.

Nasnodkar is a U.S. based technology product expert, and has brought to market several initiatives that have been beneficial to the global economy. Over the past few years, he has worked with global organizations to significantly improve worldwide internet and telecom connectivity, launched free of cost digitization solution for world’s underserved educational institutes as well as launched some first-of-a-kind e-commerce experiences. In 2017, he was hired by Amazon to lead product efforts on several global scale products including pet products, Alexa, and more.

“One of the key challenges to improving education and literacy in Nigeria is to cater to the large number of spoken languages. One of the best ways to do so is to leverage AI translation models to close content gap in educational coursework across the languages. While very few of all the spoken languages are available in the AI language models, that is rapidly changing. With the right investments and policies in place, we are only a few years away from a world where we can leverage AI to translate content to any language of user choice – greatly improving access to information and in turn education.” says Nasnodkar.

He further outlines that the use of ‘AI in education’ offers numerous potential benefits, some of which include assisting teachers by taking over time-consuming duties, marking reports, updating reports, offering and improving virtual and AI-powered classrooms, and a great many more possibilities. Every single pupil has their own unique way of processing new information.

Students with sharp minds tend to understand the topics more rapidly than their peers who require more time. The conventional method of education does not allow for individualized instruction to be tailored to the requirements of each student. The issue has been resolved thanks to AI. The use of AI in education will ensure that each student’s educational experience is uniquely tailored to their needs. In addition, the use of supporting technologies in education such as machine learning allows the system to learn how the student interprets different teachings and then adapts to that process in order to reduce the amount of work required.

Nasnodkar claims that AI systems can create a customized teaching process in addition to other administrative chores such as checking homework, grading tests, organizing research papers, keeping thorough reports, and making presentations and notes. To accomplish their day-to-day objectives, businesses increasingly rely on AI integration and turn to automation for laborious operations. AI that has a conversational interface, often known as a chatbot, is a prime illustration of how artificial intelligence in education uses data to inform itself and provide the necessary support.

Conversational AI is also capable of providing intelligent coaching by monitoring the pattern of content consumption and adapting its services to meet the requirements based on the latest trends. Because people all around the world are enrolling in distance learning and corporate training programs, it is necessary for them to take time away from their regular classes, jobs, and families. AI chatbots can answer questions about registration, provide fast solutions, provide access to necessary study material, and be of assistance 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

In addition, AI has numerous applications in testing. Stakeholders can actively employ AI software systems during tests and interviews to detect suspicious behavior and alert the supervisor. These systems can be used in both formal settings and informal settings. The AI programs keep track of each individual by using web cameras, microphones, and web browsers. They then carry out a keystroke analysis, during which any movement triggers an alarm in the system. This application of AI technology in the education sector has already proven to be one of the most successful approaches to online testing solutions.

While the applications of AI to improve the quality of education might be endless, it will come down to many external factors to see how soon we can see it in action. “Many developed countries are now adapting AI in a number of education related use cases.

It is only a matter of time until the rest of the world starts adapting to the norm.” says Nasnodkar. “By resolving other underlying barriers to education, overall technology infrastructure, and eventually adopting the technologies that make information accessible, many countries like Nigeria will be able to provide access to quality education to their citizens.” he adds.

Disclaimer: The above expressed opinions are that of the subject matter expert and are not associated with their employer in any way.