Italy is introducing artificial intelligence into its schools, as Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s government joins other European Union members in exploring new ways to narrow the country’s digital skills gap.
Education Minister Giuseppe Valditara said this week – as schools reopened in Italy – that the AI-assisted software would be tested in 15 classrooms in four regions, with plans to expand the practice later if the experiment is successful.
The minister told TGCom24 news channel that AI tools on tablets and computers in classrooms will act as “virtual assistants that can make learning easier for students and help teachers identify methods for faster, customized education.”
According to the EU statistics agency Eurostat, Italy has the worst basic digital skills score in the 27-member EU, and is only better than Latvia, Poland, Bulgaria and Romania.
However, very few details were given about the initiative. Valditara’s office could not confirm the names of the schools that will test the new technology and expand its functioning.
However, the planned evaluation of the test starting this school year is “promising”, Francesca Bastagli, head of research at the Fondazione Agnelli educational think tank, told Reuters on Friday.
“Hopefully this will tell us what works, and what is needed, for the future of AI tools in schools to be inclusive and effective,” he added.
The initiative to promote AI in schools in Italy comes at a time when the minister has completely banned the use of mobile phones in classrooms, even for educational purposes.
Previous attempts to digitalise Italian schools, including during the Covid pandemic, have proven difficult, partly due to the high age of the teaching staff, more than half of whom are 50 years old or older, according to OECD data.
Meloni has made AI one of the themes of the G7 summit hosted by Italy this year. In their final communiqué, the leaders said they would “deepen their cooperation to harness the benefits of (AI) and manage the risks”.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
