Some education experts have raised concerns about the misuse of Artificial Intelligence and social media, arguing that it is negatively impacting students’ academic performance and the quality of education in Nigeria.
The experts spoke on Thursday in Abuja during interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria.
They noted that many students now rely too heavily on social media, which has made them less diligent and less focused on their studies.
An associate professor in the Department of Agricultural and Bioresources Engineering at the Federal University of Technology, Minna, Sadiq Mohammed, stated that social media has encouraged examination malpractices among students.
Mohammed said that social media, Artificial Intelligence, and other emerging technologies, though meant to help develop societies, were being misused, particularly in the education sector.
“With the way our education sector is going, we seem doomed because many students go to magic centres to write their examinations. You see a lot of them leaving the city centres for villages where pre-answered scripts will be passed around in examination halls. You realise that they gain admission into the university with fantastic results, but along the way, they find it challenging to measure up. With the coming of AI, most students now relax; they spend more time on their phones, using different applications to write examinations,” he said.
According to him, the government needs to empower the education sector to counter the misuse of AI by students.
Mohammed said that there was a need to implement measures that would guarantee the integrity of the education system.
He said this could be done by scrutinising research papers and addressing the prevailing challenge of copy-and-paste.
He called for an education system that would instil academic discipline among learners.
Judy Eke, a retired principal, said that it was unfortunate that many parents were encouraging their wards to indulge in examination malpractice through social media.
She said that in some instances, parents finance such anti-academic behaviour and even provide data for their wards to access the internet for examination fraud.
“Parents, too, are helping to spoil the children by giving them money to go and register for examinations in faraway villages. It is so bad that even the educated ones get ‘mercenary’ to write examinations for their children. These practices are not helping the students; they no longer value hard work.’’
“Social media generally helps to avoid hard work. They believe that every answer that comes from the internet is correct,” Eke explained.
She added that a situation in which emphasis was placed more on academic qualifications rather than capabilities was encouraging reliance on the internet to perpetrate examination malpractices. She said it was time for the government to declare a state of emergency in the education sector.
Adebayo Adewole, a teacher, stated that social media has created access to information, learning opportunities, and global connectivity, but is also a source of distraction for many students. According to him, much social media contents misinform the public, especially students. He said addiction to social media was also affecting students’ performance in both internal and external examinations.
“Students spend up to four hours online yet struggle to commit 30 minutes to their books. This is unlike in the past when students were more focused. Today’s youth are more interested in social media trends than in their education,” he said.
Adewole added that social media had encouraged cybercrime, exposed young people to immoral behaviour and urged the authorities to regulate the social media space.
“The educational sector should also help in encouraging students to study the hard copy instead of the soft copy because students no longer study their books; they rely more on the internet. You see teachers give students assignments that ordinarily should be done with the aid of the textbook, but you see them going on the internet, making use of AI to do the assignments,” he said.
Leave feedback about this