Speech by MOS Rahayu Mahzam at EDUTech Asia 2025

We are entering a new era where our digital landscape is vastly different than a decade ago. AI has fundamentally transformed how we access and process information, reshaping the way we learn. As we navigate this technological revolution, it is crucial to consider how we can harness AI's powerful capabilities to use it as a force for good, to ensure AI enhances education in meaningful ways that benefit everyone.

Take for example, Finland. Finland has set out to be a lead in the sustainable digitalisation of education. This means to ensure that digital tools and environments are designed to meet individual needs while ensuring accessibility and equality in education. In Finland's classrooms, AI-powered systems like intelligent tutoring systems (ITS) play a crucial role in supplementing traditional teaching methods by providing real-time feedback and support, acting as virtual tutors that are available around the clock. Students can interact with these systems to get help with difficult concepts, practice problem-solving, and receive immediate feedback on their work. Teachers easily use AI to identify key strengths and weaknesses in student performance and allow for targeted instructional strategies.

Our vision for AI in education must be clear: AI will not replace teachers but will redefine and enhance their roles. We see teachers evolving from content deliverers to learning facilitators, empowered by AI tools to better understand and unlock each student's potential. This transformation requires thoughtful planning and collaboration between educators, leaders, and EdTech providers to ensure AI truly serves learning.

In Singapore, we have been keeping pace with evolving technology to enable teaching and learning. Since 2018, the Singapore Student Learning Space, or SLS for short, has been providing all students from primary to pre-university levels with equal access to quality, curriculum-aligned resources across subjects in a pedagogically-sound manner. SLS has continually evolved to meet the needs and demands of the classroom including developing AI-enabled features. Some of these AI-enabled features include the use of AI in Speech Evaluation, Learning Feedback Assistants to support teachers in marking and providing feedback to students, as well as the Adaptive Learning System to personalise learning pathways that cater to students with diverse learning profiles.

This leverages AI for its potential to support and enhance learning, which is what we aspire to do and need to do.

The truth is our younger generations are exposed to tech more than many of us seated here. I have heard teachers express concerns that our children, as digital natives, may have become too dependent on AI and reach for it like a quick fix, a kind of "Genie in a lamp" that always has an answer. These are valid worries. Our children and youth need to use these tools thoughtfully, not to replace their critical thinking, but to strengthen it. Their critical thinking skills are strengthened when they learn to fact-check AI responses, compare different AI-generated viewpoints, and recognise when AI limitations require human judgement. However, when students use AI as a shortcut, asking it to write essays or complete assignments wholesale, the result is generic and bland output that bypasses the productive struggle essential to learning.

The use of technology must benefit students' learning and must be age- and development-appropriate. Decisions to use technology must first and foremost be centred on students' development, pedagogy and learning needs. Likewise, to harness the potential of AI in education, its use must be fit-for-purpose and aligned with clear learning objectives. Without intentional integration, there is a risk of overreliance on AI tools, potentially undermining the development of essential skills such as critical thinking, problem-solving, and analytical reasoning that remain fundamental to effective learning. This then transforms AI from crutch to catalyst, where students bring their own ideas and use AI to iterate, critique and refine their thinking.

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   Achieving this thoughtful integration of AI requires teachers who are confident and skilled in using these tools effectively. This is why we are building our teachers' confidence to master AI through the Smart Nation Educator Fellowship. Targeted primarily at our Teacher Leaders and Specialists who lead the teaching fraternity in Singapore, this programme provides opportunities for them to explore possibilities with emerging technologies through hands-on introductory experiences and hear from key industry and educational speakers on topics like AI's impact on the future of workforce skills and AI ethics. Teachers work on projects and implement it in the classrooms, and this serves as a force multiplier to catalyse the effective use of AI in schools.

When used thoughtfully, AI is an enabler and can amplify human potential and help learners across all ages become a problem-solver and a contributor in a digital world.

As a nation, many of us Singaporeans are already embracing AI in our lives.

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   In fact, data from OpenAI showed that Singapore has the highest per capita ChatGPT usage globally - about one in four of us use it weekly.

But even as majority of our citizens are already using AI, segments of the population may still require support to keep pace with digital advancements and develop their digital skills. Digital inclusion remains at the heart of our Smart Nation journey, and we are committed to ensure that every citizen has the means and confidence to harness technology for learning, work, and life.

Right now, SG60's flagship event, the Heart & Soul Experience showcase is running at Orchard Library. Jointly organised by MDDI and NLB, visitors can explore and experiment with Generative AI (Gen AI) technology to experience both the past and the future.

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   Visitors can have a Gen AI-powered chat with their future selves in the "Call Me in the Future" booths, asking questions that can range from how we 'chope' our tables in the future, to what our schools and education institutions might look like.

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   Time Traveller is a photo booth that allows visitors to see themselves visually generated at Singapore's historical locations based on photos from the National Archives. Both experiences give visitors a friendly introduction to Gen AI. The Time Traveller photo booth is especially clever - it shows people AI's limitations through light-hearted bloopers that make learning enjoyable.

The Heart & Soul Experience showcase reflects our ongoing commitment to ensure that Singaporeans have regular opportunities to discover and learn about new technologies. In fact, this year's exhibition builds upon the valuable insights and user feedback gathered from our previous GenAI experiments, including NLB's StoryGen and ChatBook prototypes demonstrating our continuous effort to understand Singaporeans' concerns and interests regarding new technology. Through these engaging experiences, we aim to spark curiosity and learning for citizens of all ages, whilst connecting them to the past, present, future and most importantly, to each other.

In schools, students are getting their first taste of AI through hands-on exploration via "AI for Fun", a new module under the Code for Fun programme.

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   For example, Anya from Waterway Primary School learnt to use Generative AI to create a children's storybook with accompanying images.

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   Meanwhile, Dharmadevan from Northland Secondary School used Generative AI to build up the program for a microcontroller to provide a visual reminder to the elderly to take their medication.

These young learners are not just passive consumers of technology. They are creators, guided by teachers and trainers who help them understand both the exciting possibilities and the pitfalls of AI. Students discover that AI can hallucinate or reflect unfair biases, hence learning the crucial skill of fact-checking AI-generated responses.

Building on this foundation of critical AI literacy in schools, community partnerships like the Digital for Life (DfL) Movement also ensure these learning opportunities extend to all students, including those who need additional support to participate fully in our digital future.

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   For example, With Kita, formerly known as Hatch Youth Services, started a project in 2025 to advance digital literacy among Persons with Disabilities (PwDs) and students with special educational needs (SEN) through its Gen AI programme which promotes the development of skills in content creation utilising Gen AI. Students in the programme foster a digital co-creator identity to express their ideas, and actively engage as creators and collaborators in the digital space.

As we are increasingly exposed to AI, we need to ensure that we have systems in place to support its safe and responsible use, especially for our next generation.

Parents play an important role in guiding children in the use of technology and AI and we want to support them in doing so.

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   Parents can visit IMDA's Digital for Life (DfL) online portal which provides an array of bite-sized resources to better understand the growing influence of AI in everyday life. These include guides and toolkits, some developed specifically for youths, which introduce key concepts of how AI works, highlight potential risks e.g. AI-generated misinformation, deepfakes or bias, and how to use AI safely. Parents can draw on these resources to encourage thoughtful conversations on online safety with their child at home. These resources also help parents to stay digitally savvy, and equip them to better guide their children in an evolving AI landscape.

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   Through NLB's S.U.R.E. (Source, Understand, Research, Evaluate) programme, parents can also learn critical information evaluation skills on how to navigate the increasing volume of AI-generated information in today's digital landscape. NLB also provides tailored support for schools, such as S.U.R.E for Schools helping Primary, Secondary, Pre-University and Junior College students build essential information literacy skills.

To ensure meaningful use of AI in schools, MOE developed the "AI-in-education (AIEd) Ethics Framework", to guide schools in using AI tools safely, responsibly and meaningfully for teaching and learning. The framework outlines four principles of Agency, Inclusivity, Fairness and Safety in the use of AI in Singapore's Education. Teachers are provided with resources like an AIEd Ethics Primer, just-in-time bite-sized Quick Guides to Generative AI, to help them with guiding their students on safe and ethical AI use. Schools are also provided resources to facilitate professional conversations in schools on topics such as the benefits and potential risks of AI, and how these risks can be mitigated.

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   At Rosyth School, before using the AI-enabled Adaptive Learning System on SLS, students undergo an introductory module on how AI can be used and its ethical considerations, to ensure students use AI safely and holistically.

Tech companies also play a role in creating a safe environment in the digital realm, especially for our next generation. Platforms are encouraged to provide child-friendly settings by default, including restricted search results, private profiles and limited sharing capabilities for children.

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   Specific to AI applications, GovTech has developed MinorBench, a safety benchmark that has helped us in testing AI chatbots and assessing how safe they are for children. One example includes looking into the ability of AI chatbots to refuse unsafe or inappropriate queries from children.

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   If you are interested in learning about tech companies work in education, I understand that Samsung Electronics Singapore will be presenting tomorrow. They'll share their efforts to support educators and schools in digital learning environments.

Through this multi-pronged approach to AI education and digital literacy by partners across the people, public and private sectors, we are preparing ourselves to harness AI's potential responsibly. As we enter this new chapter, let us see AI not as a force to be feared, but as a force for good.

The true power of AI lies not in the technology itself, but in how we use it. As a community of EdTech advocates, let us continue to seek out new ways to empower every educator, uplift every learner, and equip every Singaporean with the confidence, skills, and discernment to thrive in a digital future.

I wish you an inspiring time at the conference.

Thank you.