If you heard that "from next year they learn with AI textbooks" and yet your child's school has said nothing, you did not mishear. The scheme itself changed. This article sets out where things stand.

What separates a "textbook" from "teaching material"

This distinction is the heart of the change.

Designation as a textbook creates an obligation for schools to use it, and it is funded stably from national and provincial education budgets. Review and management procedures are set in law.

Teaching material is different. Use becomes a choice for the school, and the basis for budget support weakens. It becomes one reference resource among others.

In December 2024 the National Assembly passed an amendment to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act defining AI digital textbooks as teaching material rather than textbooks, and it was finally confirmed on reconsideration in August 2025.

The result in numbers

The effect of the change in status was immediate.

• First semester of 2025, schools using them — 4,095
• Second semester of 2025, schools using them — 1,686 (down 58.8 per cent)

The analysis is that as the status was downgraded, provincial education budgets fell and adoption became discretionary, so a substantial number of schools stopped using them. In other words, the scheme remains but actual use has contracted sharply.

Why it went this way

Problems were raised during the rollout: criticism that the pace of adoption ran ahead of readiness, differences between schools in devices and network conditions, the burden of teacher training and lesson design, and parental concern about extending the use of digital devices.

On top of that came the question of budget scale. Designation as a textbook creates a continuing national financial commitment, and there was continuing argument about whether taking that on was justified while the evidence of effectiveness remained thin.

What parents should actually check

Knowing the national position now matters less than whether your own school uses them. There are three things to check.

• Whether your child's school uses them — available from the start-of-term curriculum information or a meeting with the class teacher.
• If so, in which subjects and how — whether it is a support tool in lessons or extends to homework changes what needs preparing at home.
• Devices and home use — knowing whether school devices are used and whether access is needed at home avoids confusion.

A school that does not use them is not at a disadvantage. Because this is a stage at which effectiveness has not been sufficiently demonstrated, looking at how lessons are actually taught is more useful than whether the technology has been adopted.

In summary

AI digital textbooks were introduced in 2025 for English, mathematics and informatics, but in law they are teaching material rather than textbooks, and as a result the number of schools using them in the second semester fell to 1,686, more than halving. So the premise that "soon every school will be learning from AI textbooks" is not currently true. Checking how your own school actually operates comes first. Other changes to the system are set out in Education News.