AI cuts lesson planning time for teachers but students skip critical thinking

Across classrooms in the country, generative AI is cutting hours teachers spend on lesson plans, freeing them to focus on delivery and student engagement. Yet, educators and experts warn that the same efficiency is eroding students’ capacity for critical thinking, as learners increasingly rely on AI outputs for assignments.

Akintunde Opawole, a data-AI product expert, describes the development as coming with both advantages and challenges.

“AI is genuinely helping teachers become more efficient. A teacher can now prepare lesson notes faster, simplify topics, create quizzes, and even personalise learning materials in ways that would normally take hours. In a country like Nigeria, where many teachers are already overstretched, that support is valuable.

“But on the other hand, there’s a growing concern that students are beginning to outsource their thinking to AI, and that’s the real issue here, not the technology itself, but how it is being used,” he said.

Opawole emphasised that if students simply copy AI-generated answers without understanding them, then the education ecosystem is creating a system where assignments are completed, but learning is not happening. “Critical thinking, curiosity, and problem-solving are skills that students still need to develop. So, the education sector has to evolve beyond the old model of ‘write notes, submit assignments, cram and pass exams.’

“Teachers now have an even more important role. Their role is no longer just to deliver information because AI can already do that. Their role is to help students think independently, ask better questions, analyse information, and defend their ideas, and apply knowledge to real-life situations; that’s where human learning still matters most,” he noted.

He urges schools to redesign how students are assessed. “If assessment remains purely assignment-based, then AI abuse will continue.

“But when students are asked to explain their reasoning verbally, work on projects, collaborate in teams, or solve practical problems, it becomes much harder to fake learning,” he noted.

Besides, he said that the countries and education systems that will succeed are not the ones fighting AI, but the ones teaching students how to use it responsibly while still developing their own minds.

However, as reliance on these tools grows, educators are raising concerns that students may be engaging less deeply with their work and thinking less critically as a result.

Staley Boroh, senior lecturer at Federal University, Otuoke in Bayelsa State, emphasised that artificial intelligence has come to stay and that Nigeria’s education ecosystem must run with it and make good use of it to their advantage.

“The role of AI is to assist us and not replace our thinking cap; it makes work faster, but it must be used ethically.

“AI will only kill people’s brains with the way it is being used in Nigeria amongst students, and now even educators are using it to prepare lessons, which is a major problem, and if not curtailed, it will be a disaster,” he said.

Across the country, classrooms are being reshaped by a fast-rising wave of AI, one that promises smarter learning, but is also exposing stark inequalities among learners.

In well-resourced schools, AI is becoming a study companion and productivity boost; elsewhere, it is either absent or viewed with suspicion as a shortcut to cheating. The result is a growing divide that could redefine learning outcomes across the country.

As AI continues to penetrate Nigerian classrooms, concerns are mounting over how its unregulated use may be distorting learning outcomes, widening inequalities, and reshaping education in unintended ways.

Nigerian classrooms have long relied on a fragile compact between students and teachers, built on honesty, curiosity, and the belief that learning is more than the pursuit of grades. That compact is now under strain.

As artificial intelligence tools rapidly gain ground in the education space, Nigeria’s classrooms are facing a defining moment.

From assisting research and improving learning outcomes to raising concerns about plagiarism and academic integrity, AI is reshaping how students learn and how educators teach.

What began as a technological conversation has evolved into a structured national strategy backed by funding, institutional design, and educational reform.

In Nigeria’s vast education landscape, one thing has always been constant: the teacher has always been the facilitator of learning.

Even in this digital era, learners still count on teachers to play a pivotal role, not only in imparting knowledge but also in shaping the future. Though AI can personalise learning at scale, it still requires the teacher’s guide to make the needed impact.

Jessica Osuere, chief executive officer at RubiesHub Educational Services, emphasised the problem is how AI is being used.

“AI can become a valuable learning support if guided properly. If teaching actually prioritises critical thinking, creativity, and real-life application, then AI will lose its power as a cheating tool, and learning will be strengthened.

“Then teachers can function more as learning facilitators than mere content deliverers. They can design tasks that require originality, guide students to question and refine AI outputs, and integrate AI meaningfully into lessons,” she said.

Osuere reiterated that with better assessment methods, such as in-class tasks, presentations, and project-based learning, the system can promote integrity while preparing students to use AI responsibly.

She advocates for a curriculum design that evolves project-based learning, open-ended assessments, and real-world problem solving.

Besides, she said that teachers must move from being the sole source of knowledge to becoming facilitators of learning. With AI tools assisting in lesson planning and content generation, teachers can focus more on:

“When students are evaluated on how they think rather than what they can copy, AI becomes a support tool instead of a shortcut.

“Teachers should demonstrate how to use it responsibly, showing students how to verify information, detect bias, and improve their own thinking using AI as an assistant, not a replacement,” she said.

Gift Osikoya, a teacher, emphasised that the rapid rise of AI tools such as ChatGPT has transformed classrooms from traditional instruction into environments where knowledge is instantly accessible.

She explained that the question is no longer whether AI should be used, but how it should be used responsibly.

“The Nigerian education sector must transition from a system that prioritises rote memorisation to one that emphasises critical thinking, creativity, and problem-solving. AI can easily provide answers, but it cannot replace deep understanding or independent reasoning,” she noted.

According to an Irish Times report, experts urge educators to adopt a trust-based system when it comes to the use of AI in schools, whereby students understand it is their responsibility to master certain topics without cheating.

AI’s adaptive systems help it identify where a child is struggling and provide targeted support with the help of a trained teacher. Besides, AI-enabled translation tools can unlock quality content in regional languages, reducing linguistic barriers, yet teachers remain central to this transformation.

To enshrine ethical digital use in the classroom, the University of Lagos unveiled a policy document on the ethical use of AI on campus.

The policy aims to “enhance critical thinking rather than fostering plagiarism and academic indolence.”

It is believed that other institutions and educational industries would follow suit to sanitise the use of AI in classrooms across the ecosystem in Nigeria.