SDAIA Empowers over 11,000 Teachers to Nurture Future AI Leaders
Saudi Arabia celebrated the World Teachers’ Day on October 5, 2024 to establish the status of teachers as leaders in society and highlight their role in fostering future generations.
On this occasion, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) spotlighted the effort of the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA) to support the mission of teachers, in line with the objectives of Saudi Vision 2030, which aims to nurture skilled national competencies.
For this end, SDAIA equips teachers with the latest technologies and artificial intelligence (AI) tools and enhances their skills to transfer this knowledge to students across different levels of public education in the Kingdom.
AI in Education
AI can help educators by personalizing learning content tailored to student’s level, creating interactive materials, automating tasks, evaluating student’s performance and providing data-driven insights for improved instruction.
Recognizing this, SDAIA has trained more than 11,000 male and female teachers on AI technologies. They received a package of educational and developmental programs in data and AI, with the goal of cultivating a generation of leaders who can drive Saudi Arabia’s global ambitions.
A Focus on Teachers
In collaboration with the Saudi Ministry of Education, SDAIA presents the Future Intelligence Programmer program, which focuses on training computer teachers on AI principles, machine learning and computer vision.
This program aims to enhance the teachers’ expertise in these technologies in order to promote the development of national competencies. The program trained about 2,000 teachers over more than 50,000 training hours and 10,000 hours of experience under the supervision of data and AI experts.
Training Students
SDAIA’s efforts are also evident in the Artificial Intelligence Hour initiative. It is an initiative of the National Olympiad for Programming and Artificial Intelligence (ATHKA), organized by SDAIA in collaboration with the King Abdulaziz and His Companions Foundation for Giftedness and Creativity (Mawhiba).
The Artificial Intelligence Hour is a student-focused training program which aims to promote AI concepts. The number of the initiative’s beneficiaries has reached 575,000 students, with the participation of 9700 teachers from various public and private schools across the Kingdom.
Moreover, SDAIA’s efforts include releasing a report on generative AI in education, in order to support teachers in harnessing these tools in the teaching process. The report involved case studies, global experiences, ethical considerations, challenges and future outlook for the use of generative AI in education.