Abuja: The Secretary General of the Organisation of Southern Cooperation (OSC), Manssour Bin-Mussallam, has urged educational authorities to revamp the school curriculum to focus on problem-posing instead of problem-solving across Africa. Bin-Mussallam made this call during an interview with journalists in Abuja.

According to News Agency of Nigeria, problem posing is an educational approach where learners formulate questions from given situations or existing problems. This strategy serves not only as a teaching tool to assess understanding but also as an instructional method to enhance students’ abilities to analyze information and generate their own meaningful questions.

Bin-Mussallam emphasized the importance of equipping youth with the capacity to articulate the right questions and critically analyze societal issues to resolve them. He warned that curriculums centered solely on problem-solving are likely to face challenges in the era of Artificial Intelligence (AI).

He proposed a shift in educational systems from problem-solving to problem-posing. He highlighted that two individuals could receive vastly different results from AI platforms like ChatGPT, depending on their ability to problematize the issues presented to the AI.

Bin-Mussallam pointed out that current AI systems do not accurately reflect the context of diverse realities. He noted that AI data is biased, exemplified by its proficiency in translating between French and English but struggling with other languages due to inadequate training.

He advocated for curriculum development that prepares youth not only to develop AI responsive to diverse realities but also to embrace problem-posing in the AI age. He acknowledged that preparing youth to lead AI transformation reflecting real-world contexts could take significant time.

The Organisation of Southern Cooperation (OSC) is an intergovernmental organization aimed at promoting balanced and inclusive education and fostering cooperation among countries in the Global South.