Ministry of Education approves national guidelines for the use of Artificial Intelligence in Brazilian education

Students who use Google's educational tools risk losing access to the search engine if their educational institutions do not accept artificial intelligence (AI) functionalities integrated into searches. This new guideline, released on Tuesday (3), generated negative reactions from educators, politicians, and experts.

Although schools maintain the ability to manage services individually, they will be required to incorporate some AI feature into the search to continue using Google Search. The implementation of this change is scheduled to begin in 2027.

This decision comes after months of resistance to Gemini within classrooms. Until August, Google restricted the activation of the chatbot only to students aged 18 or older. In the same month, the possibility of making it available to younger students in networks that authorized the use of AI tools was announced.

Currently, administrators have the option to select which services will be accessible, including Gemini, Gemini Notebook, and Google Search. By default, all these services will remain disabled until the institutions grant permission for their use. Schools can choose to keep Gemini inactive, but they must accept some AI functionality in the searches to keep the search engine active.

Chris Phillips, Google's Vice President and General Manager of Education, clarified to The New York Times that the services are intrinsically linked. Without proper authorization, students will receive an unavailability notification. Furthermore, the company is developing Guided Learning, a feature designed to guide students in problem-solving rather than providing ready-made answers; for example, in mathematics, it could encourage the student to review the rules of exponent division before reaching the final result.

Lina Khan, former Chair of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC), accused Google of using its dominant position in search engines to pressure schools. She stated: 'Google is using its monopoly in search to coerce schools into adopting artificial intelligence. This highlights the danger of allowing a monopolistic company, without regulation, to control an essential service.'

Senator Bernie Sanders labeled the initiative as extortion. Richard Blumenthal argued that the company's priority would be forcing the adoption of Gemini in schools, to the detriment of assisting students. New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani also raised doubts about the power a corporation holds over educational guidelines.

Public networks in New York and Los Angeles have implemented temporary bans on generative AI use in elementary schools while they assess the safety of these technologies and develop standards. Educators express concern that AI-generated summaries may discourage independent investigation and facilitate fraud and access to ready-made solutions, instead of fostering critical thinking.

Josh Golin, CEO of Fairplay, an organization dedicated to defending children's rights, opined that such pressure could generate the opposite of the desired effect. According to him, the presence of Google products in schools is associated with brand loyalty formation from childhood. Golin advocated that institutions disable the company's AI tools, consider abandoning other Google products, and opt for search engines that offer greater privacy protection.

In Brazil, the National Council of Education (CNE) is also debating the limits for the use of these technologies. The body presented suggestions to regulate AI in education, highlighting risks such as the deterioration of cognitive skills, algorithmic biases, and the worsening of educational disparities.

This change raises debates about the autonomy of institutions to establish their own rules and the dependence on platforms managed by large corporations. In response to the criticism, Google communicated on the social network X that it took educators into consideration. The company stated that keeping AI features disabled by default meets requests for greater control and that it will continue to collaborate with schools to expand options and improve learning-focused search.

The company mentioned that 150 million students and teachers globally use Google Classroom, and many students rely on Chromebooks provided by the institutions themselves. Contact was made with Google to verify whether the rule will also apply to Brazilian schools and what the timeline is, and the article will be updated as soon as the company responds.

The responsibility for conducting the census in India will no longer be limited exclusively to public school teachers. The central government has opened up the possibility of involving teachers from private educational institutions and other educational establishments in this work. Amendments have been made to the Census Rules of 1990 to achieve this.

Under the new provisions, teachers associated with private schools, colleges, societies, and trusts—whether they receive government aid or not—can be appointed to census duties.

Following the amendments by the central government, the pool of individuals who can perform census functions has been expanded. In addition to public school teachers, private school and college teachers can now also be appointed as enumerators.

Furthermore, clerks and other employees from Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs), banks, as well as government and non-government departments can undertake this work. This will increase the total number of available personnel for the census and give the administration a choice of various institutions from which to recruit staff.

Until now, national campaigns such as the census have primarily relied on public school teachers. Moreover, teachers were often involved in elections and other administrative tasks. As a result, there were complaints that this negatively affected their regular teaching and other school duties.

Involving teachers from private schools and colleges will allow this responsibility to be distributed among a larger number of people, which may help reduce the dependence on public school teachers.

Given the upcoming all-India census in 2027, ensuring an adequate supply of personnel is of paramount importance. Since this will be a large-scale nationwide campaign, the participation of millions of employees will be required.

Expanding the category of enumerators will give states and territories a wider choice when appointing staff. Private teachers and other employees hired for census work will be provided with special training. They will also receive a stipulated remuneration for their work. Thus, teachers from private institutions will perform duties during the census alongside government officials.

In connection with an incident that occurred at the government school in Panchkula, the education department has taken serious measures. A decision was made to immediately suspend two JBT teachers who worked at the Government Sanskrit Primary School located in Sector 20.

According to information, a third-grade student at the Cultural Model School in Sector-20 Panchkula allegedly attacked a girl studying in the KG group. It is alleged that the student brutally beat the child with stones and a pot. As a result of the attack, the girl sustained serious injuries and was initially taken to the hospital, but due to her critical condition, she had to be transferred to PGI Chandigarh.

Following this tragic situation, the education department promptly suspended the two JBT teachers. The Director of the Department of Elementary Education issued orders suspending both.

According to available data, during the incident in the schoolyard, the aggressive student first attacked the girl with stones and then inflicted injuries using a pot. It is claimed that the student continued to attack the girl with stones for a long time, even after she lost consciousness, dragging her along. This horrific scene caused panic in the school complex, after which appropriate actions were taken.

The condition of the girl at PGI Chandigarh, which was severe, is now improving. The girl is with her parents, who published a video and expressed gratitude to people across the country.