School pupils in South Africa are using AI chatbots to revise and prepare for exams, according to a report by Oxford University Press. The finding comes as hundreds of thousands of learners write the 2026 matric final exams, MyBroadband reported.
The report found that 66% of learners in its survey used AI chatbots to help them get ready for exams. The survey covered pupils in South Africa, Brazil, the United Kingdom and Hong Kong.
“We see that a large proportion of students and teachers use digital devices, platforms, and tools for day-to-day teaching and learning tasks, including widespread use of AI chatbots,” Oxford said.
The study is called Digital Learning: Insights from the Classroom. It said learners see AI as a study aid they can talk to. Pupils also use it as a guide when a teacher is not around to answer questions.
Free tools such as Google Gemini and ChatGPT work in mobile apps or in a web browser. Meta’s chatbots run inside WhatsApp and Facebook and use less data, MyBroadband reported.
According to the report, AI is used to add to normal learning, not to replace it. Most pupils said using chatbots for revision, planning and new ideas was fair. They said using it to do the work for them defeated the point of school.
“People aren’t retaining the information if they’re just copying and pasting it kind of defeats the point of learning,” one learner said in the survey.
Teachers and pupils agreed that AI tools will stay part of education. They said this means learning to use the tools well is necessary.
“No matter what we think about AI, it’s going to be there, so they need to be able to use it properly,” said one teacher who took part.
Teachers used chatbots even more than pupils, the report found. Across the four countries, 82% of teachers said they used them for research. A further 74% used them to make learning materials.
The report said 66% of teachers used chatbots for admin work and 56% used them for marking. Only 3% of teachers said they never use AI chatbots in their work.
In South Africa, 91% of the teachers surveyed said they had laptops. Another 67% said they could use smartphones for work.
Pupils had less access to devices. “Broken down by country, 18% of students we surveyed in South Africa report having access to no digital devices in at least one setting,” the report said.
That figure was 13% in the United Kingdom and 4% in Brazil. All pupils surveyed in Hong Kong had at least one device. Even so, most South African learners in the study said they used digital tools a lot in daily learning.
The National Senior Certificate exams started on 13 October. A mark of 30% to 40% counts as a pass, while higher marks need deeper thinking skills.
“The NSC examination represents the hopes and aspirations of South African learners,” the Department of Basic Education said. The department said the exams open the way to further study and jobs.
The last matric paper set by the department is due to be written on 26 November 2026.
Source: this article is based on reporting by MyBroadband. Image: MyBroadband. Written with the help of AI and published by the Tzaneen Voice News desk. See our Editorial Standards.
Kgomotso Maake covers news and politics for Tzaneen Voice. Kgomotso reports on government, Parliament, municipalities, courts, crime and service delivery across South Africa, with a close eye on how national decisions reach towns like Tzaneen and the wider Limpopo province. Stories are written in plain English and focus on the facts: who made the decision, what it means, and what happens next.