Dubai KHDA to issue clear rules on AI, mobile phone use for students

Dubai: Parents and teachers confused about when children should, and should not, use artificial intelligence (AI), mobile phones and other digital tools in class can expect clearer direction soon, as Dubai's education regulator prepares a policy covering every school and educational institution in the emirate.

Aisha Miran, Director General of the Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA), revealed this at a Media Majlis in Dubai on Thursday.

Responding to a question by Gulf News, she said that the authority is working on a clear policy for the use of technology and AI the education system which will balance safeguarding and innovation. "We expect, hopefully, by next year, to have our policy and standards ready," she said.

The plan is to incorporate guidelines on responsible use of digital tools and devices by students.

The KHDA is currently developing the guiding principles of the policy, and the thinking behind them is simple, Miran said: AI and technology must serve students and enrich their learning. The authority does not want to use them for the sake of the technology itself. "It's a means towards an end," she said, and that end is the learner's experience.

The policy will therefore look at when AI and devices such as iPads and mobile phones should be introduced, when they should not, and when they genuinely enrich learning. It will also set out the safeguards and guardrails needed to balance embracing technology with protecting students. The aim, Miran said, is a wise and adequate use of AI and technology.

The move comes amid a growing global debate over screens in classrooms. Miran noted that some countries are now stepping away from iPads and technology and returning to pen and paper. Dubai wants a very clear direction on when technology strengthens student learning and when schools need to be careful. The authority is following developments in many countries and gathering feedback as it shapes its approach.

The same question has surfaced over mobile phones. Miran said some senior officers urged her to ban phones in schools, which sparked a heated internal debate at the KHDA. The authority leans towards giving schools accountability, responsibility and a degree of flexibility.

Asked what the KHDA is doing to keep younger children away from screens, Miran said schools cannot carry all the responsibility. Even if a school has a no-screen policy, she pointed out, a child who is handed an iPad for the next two to three hours after leaving school is not being helped by that rule.

"It's important that you work in an ecosystem" where parents, schools and the government move together, she said. To that end, the KHDA is working with the Dubai Digital Authority on digital balance and on raising parents' awareness of screen time, including through webinars and posters.

Students, she stressed, spend only a set number of hours within school boundaries before stepping into a much bigger world. The aim is to teach children to become responsible members of society who know right from wrong, and when to use technology and when not to.

The authority does not want to be very restrictive, Miran said, and it does not want to be very open either. Whether it is an iPad, AI, a mobile phone or another device, the goal is to ensure ethical and right use, and to embrace technology as one measure of innovation.

The policy will look at the learner's life cycle, helping decide at what stage AI should be introduced and what barriers are needed to protect students. Safeguarding, Miran said, is a key priority. It will also address the roles of parents and schools, and the guiding principles for using AI.

"We cannot abandon use of technology," she added, saying the authority wants to embrace it while setting targets to protect children so they can become the digital citizens the country wants them to be.