As Kolkata schools flag plagiarism using AI tools, parents debate its role in homework
Schools across Kolkata are reporting a surge in AI-generated homework submissions, from writing essays to solving complex mathematical equations, sparking concerns about academic integrity while triggering a debate about technology's role in education.
Educators note that students, mainly of secondary and higher secondary classes, are increasingly relying on tools like ChatGPT and Google Gemini for assignments.
'We understand that they use AI, especially the students of 8 to 10 standard. The blatant copying from AI is noticeable by teachers' said principal CA Lucas, GD Birla.
Many teachers also note that the quality of writing differs vastly when a student is given an essay at home and at school.
'Students were asked to write an essay at home and they were able to write it well, but at school their answers are not up to the mark,' said Shatadru, principal of Techno India School.
Parents, however, have neutral opinions regarding the use of AI.
'I use ChatGPT or Gemini to understand a few simple things for my child, not exactly to copy it, but to understand what could be the answer. Sometimes, I use AI to understand what type of writing one needs for the essay topics, but she does not copy it directly. It also helps in ideating the topic…,' said the mother of a Class 5 student studying at Our Lady Queens, Kolkata. 'When a child is taught to use AI, they will majorly use it to do most of the work, which is ideally not good because it does not help during examinations. It is important to keep a check on whether they are frequently using AI or not,' she added.
Students, meanwhile, using AI praise its efficiency, and many openly admit how embedded it has become in their everyday academic life.
'It analyses better, makes the lengthy answers short and it can give us questions, meaning if you upload a picture of a question paper in ChatGPT based on that it can help you understand the MCQ pattern in the exam paper,' said a class 10 student from a well-known school in Kolkata.
'I use it for solving questions, making questions for me to solve, to get answers to reasoning based questions whose answer is not available on the internet,' said another student from class 8.
The Heritage School Principal, Seema Saptu, however, advocates for adaptation. 'I'm getting clear about this one thing that AI is here to help us and … we have got to embrace it. It is our responsibility as adults, teachers, to ensure that children learn with AI properly.
(Anisha Ghosh is an intern at the Kolkata office of The Indian Express)
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