Singaporeans Remains Divided on AI Curriculum in Primary Schools

Editor – Southeast Asia Analyst.

Singaporeans primary school students are actively learning with Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools integrated in school curriculums. Moving beyond learning about AI, pupils are now learning how to use AI responsibly. Although year 5 and 6 students were using AI tools for years, education minister Desmond Lee announced that AI study tools will gradually move into year 4 curriculums.

The education ministry assured that these tools will be used under teacher supervision, low exposure and within guardrails. These include only a select array of AI tools with features for learning tasks available in the Singapore Student Learning Space (SLS), an online portal used by the education ministry. In an interview, school teachers also revealed that the AI chatbots are programmed to only provide information that is relevant to the study material and avoid giving immediate answers.

This latest addition is a result of years of development. Singaporean classrooms began experimenting with AI aided learning in the late 2010s where AI customized learning paths based on each student’s strengths, weaknesses and learning styles. With repeated success, AI study tools are increasingly embedded into compulsory subjects. This contrasts with Singapore’s Southeast Asian neighbors where although AI courses are available to primary students, they remain as electives.

The latest move is Singapore’s effort to remain competitive in the AI supply chain. Although the island nation currently hosts microchip assembly, packaging and testing factories, these facilities’ expansion will be limited due to Singapore’s size and lack of water. Simultaneously, Singapore’s immediate neighbours will not be confined by the same problems given their vast land and water supply and in some cases abundant critical mineral reserves. Thus, Singapore is repeating a common pattern in its history, relying on its human development index to remain competitive. 

Foreign observers could view teaching primary students on how to make use of AI as over the top for the young pupils’ development. This is explained by an uniquely Singaporean concept called “Kiasu” which roughly translates to “fear of losing.” As a result of Singapore’s difficult independence and acute sense of vulnerability, the kiasu mindset took hold among the Singaporean government as well as society. This mindset pushes Singaporean society to be highly competitive and driven.

Despite this, the public remains divided on pushing AI into primary school curriculum to students as young as 10 years old, particularly from parents. Besides the risk of AI exposing their children to inappropriate content at a young age, parents fear their children losing social skills and becoming overdependent on AI for every personal decision making.

“Some adults I know are already losing their own ability to think critically and are already trusting AI blindly for every personal decision they need to make,” said a mother of an 11 year old son.

Others take on a more accommodating approach claiming that they’d rather teach the children to use AI than to leave it up to chance. Some believe that early exposure to AI could be a good thing as long as the children are taught to use it responsibly, believing that the children will be better prepared for advances in AI in the future.

Among 15 parents that CNA Today interviewed, two thirds of them did not oppose AI being introduced at schools given that the tools did not generate responses that are not dangerous or inappropriate.

Although preparing students for the 4th industrial revolution is important, fundamentals such as critical thinking, social skills and the ability to articulate arguments should not be pushed out of the curriculum. With looming concerns with the AI bubble burst, students should be prepared for a future with as well as without AI tools to help on the job and in daily tasks.

Han Kyeol Kim is an editor in Southeast Asia Analyst.