The AI Paradox: Why the World’s Poorest Classrooms Are Adopting What the West Fears

Episode Overview

In this insightful episode of The EdTech Podcast, host Philippa Wraithmell explores one of education’s most controversial debates: mobile phones and AI in learning. She is joined by Stephen Hodges (Efekta), Adam Huh Dam (Stick ’Em), and Payal Patel (Digital Bridge), who bring global perspectives from AI tutoring, STEAM education, and digital wellbeing to challenge Western narratives around “screen time” and distraction.

Key Themes in This Episode

• AI teaching assistants addressing global teacher shortages
• Mobile phones as learning lifelines in emerging economies
• Screen time vs screen purpose
• Equity, access, and digital leapfrogging
• STEAM education through smartphones
• AI literacy, self-regulation, and digital confidence
• Parenting, wellbeing, and healthy technology boundaries
• Why banning technology may deepen global education divides

Why Listen to This Episode?

This episode reframes one of the most polarising conversations in education. Instead of asking “How do we stop children using phones?”, it asks “How do we teach purposeful, ethical, and empowering use?”

You’ll hear why AI tutors are transforming access to quality learning in regions facing teacher shortages, how smartphones are enabling STEAM education in the most remote communities, and why Western fear-based policies may unintentionally widen the global education gap. The discussion offers practical insights for educators, parents, and leaders navigating AI, mobile technology, and learning design.

Who This Episode Is For?

Perfect for:

• Educators and school leaders
• Policymakers and system leaders
• EdTech and AI innovators
• Parents navigating digital wellbeing
• Organisations working in emerging markets
• Anyone rethinking phones, AI, and learning equity

Full Episode Description

In many Western classrooms, mobile phones are treated as distractions to be banned, locked away, or confiscated. Meanwhile, in parts of the world facing severe teacher shortages, those same devices are becoming the most powerful educational tools available.

In this episode, Philippa Wraithmell is joined by three experts who reveal why emerging economies may be digitally leapfrogging the West. Stephen Hodges, CEO of Efekta, explains how AI teaching assistants embedded in mobile phones are delivering personalised English and STEM instruction in regions where qualified teachers are scarce. For many students, a phone is not entertainment—it is their only gateway to quality education.

Adam Huh Dam, co-founder of Stick ’Em, shares how STEAM education is reaching underserved communities using smartphones students already own. From rural schools to coastal villages, mobile-first learning enables creativity, problem-solving, and hands-on experimentation without expensive infrastructure.

Payal Patel, Director of Digital Wellbeing at Digital Bridge, brings the parental and wellbeing perspective. She challenges the “screen time” narrative, arguing instead for “screen purpose”—helping families and schools develop intentional, values-based relationships with technology that build confidence, autonomy, and self-regulation rather than conflict.

Together, the panel explores why banning phones often ignores deeper issues: outdated pedagogy, disengaging learning experiences, and the failure to teach digital responsibility. The conversation warns that by demonising technology, Western systems risk missing one of the greatest educational opportunities of our time.

This episode ultimately delivers a hopeful message: technology is not the problem. How we design, guide, and use it will determine whether AI and mobile devices become tools of distraction—or engines of equity.