Indonesia AI Institute (IAII), in collaboration with the AI Center of Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB), held a Focus Group Discussion (FGD) with teachers from various levels of education across Bandung on May 14, 2026. The session brought together nine educators from SD Salman Al-Farisi, SMPN 48 Bandung, SMAN 4 Bandung, and SMA Pasundan 3 Bandung. The FGD aimed to explore the current state of student literacy, the character-related challenges teachers face daily, and to map the real needs of educators in relation to the AI learning platform being developed by IAII.
A Worrying Decline in Deep Reading
One of the most striking findings from the FGD was a drastic decline in deep reading ability across all education levels. Teachers agreed that the consumption of short digital content — particularly short-form videos like those on TikTok — has radically shifted students’ reading culture.
At the elementary level, around 50% of students are reluctant to read long stories, preferring visual-based content instead. At the junior high level, genuine independent reading ability is found in only about 15% of students — an average of 5 out of 32 students per class. The situation at senior high school is even more alarming: a speed-reading test given at the start of Grade 10 showed that 10% of students were still sounding out letters, around 60% were reading at an elementary-to-junior-high level, and only 20–30% actually met senior high school reading standards. As a result, 90% of students reported experiencing physical and mental fatigue when faced with long texts.
Character Decline and Growing Social Anxiety
Beyond literacy, the FGD also identified an equally concerning trend: weakening mental resilience (adversity quotient), a crisis of future orientation, and escalating social anxiety as students grow older.
Digital content has shaped the mindset of many students into believing that financial success does not require a formal academic path — becoming a content creator seems sufficient without the need for higher education. This has eroded learning motivation and encouraged a tendency to engage only with subjects students personally enjoy. A particularly troubling anomaly emerged across school levels: at the elementary and junior high levels, students generally remain enthusiastic about performing in front of the class. But at senior high school, social anxiety becomes extreme — students openly refuse to go to the board to solve problems, and there have even been cases of students skipping school for an entire semester out of fear of group presentation tasks. Bapak Rudy Ruliandi of SMA Pasundan 3 Bandung captured it well: students can answer questions, but they struggle to explain their answers.
Teachers’ Expectations of AI: Different at Every Level
The FGD also mapped how teachers’ expectations of AI differ by education level. At the elementary level, teachers want AI to serve purely as an administrative assistant and curriculum planning tool. At junior high, they expect AI to facilitate guided, supervised student exploration. At senior high, the need shifts toward a protection system capable of detecting manipulation and academic dishonesty in student assignments.