Faced with the challenge of the strong explosion of science and technology, artificial intelligence, robots, internet of things, big data, virtual schools, etc., many people have questioned the role of teachers in the future.

However, at the meeting with representatives of teachers and education managers on the occasion of Vietnamese Teachers' Day, November 20, the Minister of Education and Training affirmed that: " Artificial intelligence does not and cannot replace humans, the role of teachers cannot be replaced. With artificial intelligence and new digital means, we need to consider them as new sharp and effective tools."

Many opportunities and challenges for the education sector in the digital age. (Illustration photo, source: xaydungchinhsach.chinhphu.vn)

Indeed, not only in the education sector, the development of science and technology in the digital age has had and is having a strong impact on many industries and many economic and social fields.

For teaching, artificial intelligence can help analyze each student's learning data to design learning programs that suit their abilities, speed and personal interests; support teachers in automatically grading papers, analyzing learning outcomes and reporting, saving time to focus on teaching and developing skills for students; artificial intelligence combined with the Internet of Things (IoT) to create smart classrooms, where all devices are connected and support learning;...

Or for students, today, diverse and rich sources of knowledge can be searched quickly on the internet; many supporting applications have also been born.

Because of this, it seems that in some aspects it has affected the way the community or society evaluates and establishes the position of teachers. Many opinions say that the role of teachers has gradually faded in the digital age.

However, as science, technology and artificial intelligence develop, this is also an opportunity for education to use it as a sharp and effective tool for development. This requires teachers to have higher thinking ability and better skills to control and use science and technology. In which, they must constantly learn and update their knowledge and skills so as not to fall behind the development of technology.

As Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Kim Son said: “We need to face the challenges, not avoid them, not be afraid. We stand firmly on the foundation of educational science and the mettle of teachers to receive the advantages of the times, to take advantage of the advantages, to develop faster.”

The country's education and training are facing great demands and great opportunities. The greater the assigned mission, the higher the requirements and expectations, the more the country's education has been innovated, the faster it needs to innovate, the quality has been gradually improved, the faster it needs to improve. In particular, the teaching staff is the core, also needs to innovate in the digital age, turning challenges into opportunities for development.