80,000 Uruguayan students trained in artificial intelligence by 2023

In order for Uruguay to lead the development of artificial intelligence, Ceibal implements training proposals for students in kindergarten, primary and secondary education, through the Computational Thinking program. Ceibal is the pioneering initiative One Laptop per Child that Uruguay started in 2007 and positioned it as the first country in the world to provide laptops to all children and teachers in all public sector primary and secondary schools, bridging digital and educational gaps.

The president of the entity, Leandro Folgar, informed that, so far, some 80,000 students have participated and training has been provided in 80% of the country's urban establishments.

The program, which from 2024 will be called Computational Thinking and Artificial Intelligence, has been running for several years, explained the hierarch. "When the headlines of generative artificial intelligence arrived in Uruguay, schools had already been doing machine learning projects for two years," he said.

In 2023, a reference framework for teaching about this technological development was published, aimed at teachers, with the objective of guiding them in the inclusion of contents in the pedagogical proposal, he pointed out. This guide is the first to be written in Spanish and is considered a model for educational systems in other countries, he added.

To complement this initiative, the center has also worked on teacher training. Some 3,600 have received courses and workshops on artificial intelligence strategies and their incorporation in the classroom. So far, more than 400 hours have been completed, he said. The training also covered some 300 Ceibal collaborators.

As a result of sustained work in education, Uruguay's human resources are highly competitive, qualified and multilingual. The country offers universal and free access to all levels of education. In the areas of science, mathematics, technology and engineering, Uruguayan talent is particularly sought after for its ease of adaptation to new technologies and processes, as well as its high flexibility and specialization in the different areas of the sector.

The Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) segment had a precocious development in Uruguay, with a marked export profile that places it in a prominent position in the region as the largest software supplier per capita in Latin America.

Source: Uruguay's Presidency.