During Digital Learning Week 2025, UNESCO released a landmark report titled “AI and Education: Protecting the Rights of Learners.” The report examines how artificial intelligence (AI) and digital technologies are transforming education and what this means for the fundamental right to learn. As education becomes increasingly digital, understanding these changes is critical to ensuring equitable access, quality learning, and the protection of human rights.
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Why the Right to Education Matters in the Age of AI
The right to education is a fundamental human right, ensuring that learning is available, accessible, acceptable, and adaptable to the needs of every learner. Today, digital technologies are reshaping how students access and experience education. AI offers immense possibilities—from personalized learning paths to administrative efficiencies—but it also introduces risks like bias, privacy concerns, and digital exclusion.
UNESCO’s report highlights the urgent need to examine education through a human-rights lens, ensuring that AI enhances learning opportunities rather than creating new inequalities. Accessibility, quality, and inclusivity are central to maintaining the integrity of this right in a rapidly changing digital landscape.
Key Questions Raised by the Report
The report takes a human-rights-based approach to explore how AI and digital tools affect education. It seeks to answer three primary questions:
- Which international human rights norms and standards apply to digital transformation in education?
- What opportunities and challenges does AI integration create for learning systems?
- How can national and international policies ensure that the evolving right to education is effectively protected?
To address these questions, UNESCO uses the 5C framework:
- Coordination and Leadership – aligning education policies with digital initiatives.
- Content and Solutions – developing quality digital learning materials.
- Capacity and Culture – training educators and shaping digital literacy.
- Connectivity and Infrastructure – ensuring reliable internet and technology access.
- Cost and Sustainability – making digital learning affordable and long-lasting.
This structured approach helps policymakers and stakeholders implement AI in education while prioritizing human rights.
Major Challenges in Digital Education
One of the most pressing issues is unequal access to technology and the internet. Reliable connectivity is no longer optional—it is essential for learning. Yet, global access remains uneven:
- Only 40% of primary schools, 50% of lower secondary schools, and 65% of upper secondary schools worldwide have internet access.
- Regional differences are stark: connectivity ranges from 80-90% in Europe and the Americas, 64% in Asia-Pacific, and only 40% in Africa.
- Rural and underdeveloped areas face the greatest digital divide, with internet access as low as 14%.
Beyond infrastructure, gender, disability, language, and age amplify disparities. Students without affordable access to digital tools risk being left behind, creating a growing inequity in education outcomes.
AI magnifies these disparities. While digital tools can personalize learning and improve efficiency, unequal access means that only some learners benefit. Addressing this digital divide is essential not just for education equity but also to ensure emerging technologies empower all learners—not just those in well-connected regions.
The Connection Between Education and Other Rights
Education is foundational to many other human rights. As AI becomes more integrated into learning systems, it raises complex questions about privacy, autonomy, cultural rights, and freedom of expression. For example:
- How will student data be collected, stored, and used, particularly by private companies?
- How can digital learning environments prioritize the best interests of the child?
- What steps can ensure inclusion for students who speak underrepresented languages?
The report emphasizes that protecting the right to education requires a comprehensive, rights-based approach, recognizing that digital learning intersects with a broad human rights ecosystem.
Main Findings of the Report
UNESCO identifies several key concerns arising from AI and digital education:
- Access: Inequitable access to devices and connectivity.
- Bias and Ethics: AI algorithms may reinforce stereotypes or exclude marginalized groups.
- Protection: Risks to student privacy, security, and safety.
- Cultural and Linguistic Diversity: Digital content often favors dominant languages or cultural perspectives.
- Vulnerability: Certain populations remain disproportionately affected by digital exclusion.
- Accountability: Ensuring responsible use of AI in learning systems.
The report stresses that addressing these challenges is essential to ensure digital education enhances rather than undermines the right to education. It calls on countries to integrate human rights protections into digital learning strategies, focusing on coordination, content, capacity, connectivity, and cost.
UNESCO’s Role in Advancing AI in Education
UNESCO plays a vital role in supporting governments to create inclusive, human-centered digital learning ecosystems. Since 2024, the organization has assisted 58 countries in developing AI competency frameworks, curricula, and training programs for educators and policymakers.
Key UNESCO initiatives include:
- Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence: Promotes ethical and equitable AI adoption in education.
- AI Competency Frameworks for Teachers and Students: Helps integrate AI learning objectives into curricula.
- Guidance for Generative AI: Supports critical, creative, and ethical use of AI in research and education.
These efforts aim to ensure that digital transformation in education is ethical, equitable, and grounded in human rights, preparing students for an AI-driven world while safeguarding their rights.
Building a Future Where No Learner Is Left Behind
The report underlines the need for sustainable, affordable, and inclusive digital learning. Bridging digital gaps is crucial not only to realize the right to education but also to guarantee that AI and other technologies benefit all learners globally.
Education should empower students, foster equity, and uphold their rights in every digital interaction. UNESCO’s ongoing Initiative on the Evolving Right to Education examines how international human rights frameworks can adapt to diverse and dynamic societies, ensuring digital learning remains a tool for inclusion, not exclusion.
Frequently Asked Questions:
What is the relationship between AI and the right to education?
AI can transform learning by personalizing education, improving efficiency, and expanding access. However, it also raises concerns about equity, privacy, and digital exclusion, making it essential to protect learners’ rights.
Why is protecting the right to education important in the digital era?
Education is a fundamental human right. In the age of AI, ensuring equal access, quality learning, and inclusive digital tools is vital to prevent learners from being left behind.
How does AI impact educational access and equity?
AI can enhance learning opportunities but may also widen the digital divide if students lack internet access, devices, or digital literacy, especially in rural or underdeveloped areas.
What ethical issues arise from using AI in education?
Key ethical issues include algorithmic bias, data privacy concerns, cultural and linguistic exclusion, and the need to protect students’ personal information in digital environments.
How can governments and schools ensure AI benefits all learners?
By implementing human-rights-based policies, improving infrastructure, providing teacher training, and designing AI systems that are inclusive, ethical, and transparent.
What role does UNESCO play in AI and education?
UNESCO provides guidelines, competency frameworks, and ethical recommendations for AI in education. It supports countries in creating inclusive and human-centered digital learning ecosystems.
Are there risks if AI is not properly regulated in education?
Yes. Without proper safeguards, AI could reinforce inequalities, compromise privacy, or marginalize vulnerable learners, undermining the fundamental right to education.
Conclusion
AI is rapidly transforming education, offering unprecedented opportunities for personalized learning, efficiency, and global access. However, it also presents significant challenges, including digital exclusion, privacy concerns, and ethical risks. Protecting the fundamental right to education requires a human-rights-based approach that ensures equity, inclusivity, and ethical use of AI. UNESCO’s guidance and frameworks highlight the importance of building digital learning systems that leave no learner behind. By prioritizing accessibility, quality, and fairness, education can harness AI’s potential to empower every student and shape a more inclusive, equitable future.
