Washington, August 25, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
US Education Secretary Linda McMahon has said artificial intelligence should be embraced in schools but used with appropriate safeguards, stressing that technology must not replace teachers or human interaction in classrooms.
Speaking to reporters at the White House on Monday, McMahon said AI was already being used in some schools and had the potential to provide personalised academic support.
“AI is here. I have been to the Alpha School in Austin, Texas. I’ve seen it at work,” she said, adding that the technology “has to have guardrails” because “AI cannot replace a teacher in the classroom”.
McMahon said direct interaction between teachers and students remained essential. She suggested AI could function as an individual tutor for students who need additional help or provide more advanced material to those performing well.
She said the technology, if used properly, could offer significant benefits to students while complementing rather than replacing teachers.
McMahon also outlined the Trump administration’s plans to reduce the role of the federal Department of Education and return greater control over education policy to individual states.
She said President Donald Trump had described the federal education system as requiring a “hard reset”, citing what he characterised as decades of increased spending alongside declining test scores.
McMahon said the administration was using inter-agency agreements to transfer some programmes and responsibilities from the Education Department to other federal agencies. She said the approach was intended to demonstrate that programmes could be administered more efficiently elsewhere.
“Ultimately Congress must vote to close the Department of Education,” McMahon said, adding that the administration was seeking to demonstrate that the proposed restructuring could work.
On school choice, McMahon said a federal tax credit included in Trump’s major tax and spending legislation represented significant progress towards expanding school-choice opportunities nationally. She said governors could opt into the programme and establish scholarship-granting organisations, with individuals eligible for tax credits of up to $1,700 for contributions.
The funds could help families move children from schools they consider unsuitable and could also support private or after-school tutoring and services for children with disabilities, she said.
McMahon further said an inter-agency agreement with the Treasury Department had been signed to gradually transfer monitoring of the federal student debt system, valued at about $1.7 trillion.
The US Department of Education became a Cabinet-level agency under legislation signed by President Jimmy Carter in 1979 and began operating in 1980. While it administers federal funding, student aid, civil rights enforcement and education data programmes, states and local authorities retain primary responsibility for running public schools.
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