AI can turn Africa's learning crisis into an opportunity

Filter by area of work View and search all Areas of work Back Areas of work Focus areas Focus areas Adolescent participation and civic engagement Child poverty and social protection Child protection Climate crisis and the environment Digital technology Education and human capital Gender equality Health and well-being Inclusion and equity Social and behaviour change Our approach Back Our approach What we do What we do Data by topic and country Foresight Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS) Programme effectiveness Research How we work How we work Disability inclusion in research Ethical evidence generation Youth engagement Our agenda Our agenda Our mandate Events and insights Back Events and insights Events Events All events Leading Minds Conference Insights Insights Ideas and articles Search area has closed. Search area has opened. Search Close Search form Search Clear search input Search for result Hide filters Show filters Clear search input Search for result Max Clear search input Search for result Article How AI can transform Africa's learning crisis into a development opportunity AI promises much. But its deployment in African education requires careful consideration Steven Vosloo, UNICEF Innocenti Home Ideas and articles How AI can transform Africa's learning crisis into a development opportunity 13 November 2025 Reading time: 4 minutes Consider these sobering stats: 89 per cent of children in sub-Saharan Africa cannot read a simple text by the age of 10 (referred to as "learning poverty"), and by 2050, two in five children will be in Africa. Today, more than 30 million young people are not in education, training or employment. Creating and scaling up solutions to help more children learn has never been more urgent. UNICEF/UNI782598/Exodus AI promises much here. Yet its deployment in African education and work places (formal and informal) requires careful consideration. Recent research , examining how humans interact with generative AI systems, suggests AI’s impact may prove to be a double-edged sword. AI as productivity enabler or cognitive risk From Offloading to Engagement by Prof. Dr. Michael Gerlich looked at how 150 participants in the UK, Germany and Switzerland (covering secondary school students to working professionals) engage with generative AI. Four conditions were tested: human-only, human + AI (unguided), human + AI (guided with structured prompting), and AI-only benchmarks. Results showed that "unguided AI use fosters cognitive offloading ... whereas structured prompting significantly reduces offloading and enhances both critical reasoning and reflective engagement." Structured prompting is an approach that requires users to pause, reflect, and test their own assumptions as part of self-regulated learning. In this study, the human + AI (guided) condition was designed to promote deliberate engagement with an AI system while completing a task. In short, the AI served not as an answer machine but as a thinking partner. The study concludes that the difference is key to successful AI adoption in society and business. The need for ecosystem support Zooming out, lessons from years of EdTech interventions by UNICEF have shown that success depends not just on good software, but on teachers. They provide a level of human support and scaffolding critical for digital learning. Quality content, equal access, accessibility, and implementation research to measure impact, are other critical components of the learning ecosystem. If these are the preconditions for successful use of AI to learn and to be productive at work, they present major challenges for Africa. These are not the default conditions in the classroom. As we've seen, there is widespread learning poverty amongst students. AI literacy is not commonplace in schools. Recent research with children on AI by the Digital Futures for Children centre (DFC) and Mtoto News , revealed that AI literacy among the participants in Kenya was primarily self-taught. "We should have a Kid AI class where we learn safely", noted Pinkie (13), as study participants said AI was the future. Teachers often have insufficient subject matter expertise and low motivation, which stem from inadequate support and poor school and digital infrastructure. In such contexts, there is a temptation to outsource thinking to AI and use it to do, versus support, work. The promise of AI in Africa The stakes are high to getting AI right in Africa. Genesis Analytics estimates that by 2030, AI could inject $2.9 trillion into the African economy, equating to a 3 per cent annual increase in GDP. This would potentially lift 11 million Africans out of poverty and create half a million jobs across the continent each year. Some young workers in Africa are already integrating AI into their daily routines, using tools like ChatGPT, Copilot, and in-house chatbots to enhance productivity, creativity, and efficiency. A forthcoming UNICEF paper points to how AI is supporting teachers and learners in promising practices. Investment in skills is key to unlocking this collective potential. It is not surprising that the African Union Continental AI Strategy has a focus on children and youth that includes supporting AI skills, AI in education, AI