Last week I had the privilege of attending Bahrain Polytechnic’s Teaching and Learning 2025 conference. The theme — “Can AI Replace Teachers?” — sparked valuable reflection. While many of the presentations focused on practical uses of today’s AI tools, the bigger takeaway for me lay elsewhere. It reaffirmed a belief I’ve long held: that AI, for all its promise, cannot replace the human core of education. Teaching is not just content delivery — it is connection, inspiration and interpretation.

As AI becomes more embedded in our systems, we must resist the temptation to reduce education to automation. Instead, we should focus on how AI can support the qualities only humans bring: empathy, communication, critical thinking, ethical judgement — and equally important, the uniquely human capacities for art, imagination and creativity.

In the rush to integrate AI, we must remember: students are not datasets, and learning is not a transaction. It is a human journey — one that requires empathy, creativity and care.

𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘈𝘐 𝘪𝘴 𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵 𝘦𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭, 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘶𝘳𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘦-𝘥𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘯 — 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘯, 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥.