Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube addresses the G20 National Education Indaba at Century City Convention Centre on Monday, 25 August. (Photo: Lebogang Ramogale) 
Could artificial intelligence (AI) replace teachers in the classroom in the future? That was one of the questions asked at the G20 National Education Indaba in Century City, Cape Town, on Monday, 25 August.
The national indaba followed provincial indabas held across South Africa’s nine provinces, and focused on advancing quality foundational learning through the development of early childhood care and education.
A key discussion focused on the challenges and importance of equipping teachers with AI knowledge through higher education.
Professor Mbulungeni Madiba of Stellenbosch University questioned whether teachers were adequately prepared to function in this new AI world and whether they could effectively work with AI.
In response, Professor Andile Mji of the Cape Peninsula University of Technology said that if educators did not embrace AI, they would be left behind.
“If we teach our teachers about AI today and invest in that, I guarantee you we will have the best results in the future. AI capabilities are evolving too rapidly for teacher education to hesitate in deliberating whether to adopt or resist them. We must embrace it. We do not have a choice,” said Mji.
Professor Rajendran Govender of the University of the Western Cape said it was too early for AI to replace teachers, as “58% of our schoolchildren in these schools do not have connectivity and also do not have functional libraries to start.
“The question is how long it will take us to ensure that the resources across the country for all of our teachers are equitable and fair. [When] we reach that point, we can probably think of answering that question.”
Professor Kotie Kaiser from North-West University linked the AI issue to teacher dropout rates: “Some of the gaps are the fact that we have a huge teacher dropout [rate], so our graduates move away from the profession, and then [there is] also teacher burnout.
“In terms of challenges to initial teacher education programmes, I would say that programmes need to be more flexible and more responsive, which means that service learning opportunities of students being involved in practice from the start of their training should be part of their training,” said Kaiser.
Read more: Breaking Point — why half of South Africa’s teachers are ready to walk away.
Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube noted that several provinces faced severe financial constraints, affecting funding for learning materials, scholar transport, infrastructure and other essential services.
“To deal with some of these systematic issues, I have operationalised the National Education and Training Council, an advisory body made up of experts who will advise me on a minimum integrated package of support to schools offering the Foundation Phase and on how we should strengthen the resourcing model for our schools, as well as reviewing the promotion and progression policies in the system and how we may reduce the administrative burden on teachers,” said Gwarube.
Early childhood development
A key focus of the indaba was early childhood development (ECD). The Basic Education Laws Amendment (Bela) Act makes Grade R attendance compulsory for all children in South Africa. Recently, Daily Maverick reported that the National Treasury turned down the Department of Basic Education’s request for additional funds to implement compulsory Grade R schooling.
Read more: Treasury’s decision not to allocate extra funding imperils compulsory Grade R roll-out.
The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education’s deputy director-general, Mbongiseni Mazibuko, said the province faced infrastructure challenges in ECD centres.
“Our ECD centres are not [well] in terms of infrastructure. The equipment is not in a state we can be proud of, where we can say a learner is having a good start. We note that there are areas in rural townships where centres are not good,” said Mazibuko.
Limpopo’s MEC for Education, Mavhungu Lerule-Ramakhanya, revealed that there was a need to train ECD teachers.
“We need to have a strategic approach for both rural and urban centres so that we close the gap that exists. We need to have proper, qualified educators for the special schools,” said Lerule-Ramakhanya.
Bela Act
The president of the South African Democratic Teachers Union, Magope Maphila, said the ECD centres needed funding, which the Bela Act could help provide.
“ECD is a potential vehicle in South Africa for addressing deep-rooted socioeconomic disparities. The Bela Act helps to improve early childhood education and accessibility to schooling,” said Maphila.
“Also, the Act tries to rectify longstanding disparities in our education system and promote a more inclusive and equitable education system for all in our country.
“The disparities in the remuneration of ECD practitioners have not gone unnoticed. They [teachers] too must feel valued and supported through decent pay to stay longer in this sector.
“We recommend that funding be made available to improve this sector moving forward to have equal pay for equal work.” DM