Maria’s Public School: AI Policy and Institutional Guidelines

Document Reference: MPS/POLICY/AI-2026/01

Effective Date: Academic Year 2026–2027

1. Preamble and Educational Vision

At Maria’s Public School, our commitment to educational excellence rests upon preparing students for a rapidly evolving global landscape while steadfastly preserving human values, empathy, and holistic child development. Artificial Intelligence (AI) represents a transformative technology capable of expanding human potential, fostering inquiry, and accelerating creative problem-solving.

This policy establishes comprehensive institutional guidelines to ensure that AI technologies serve as ethical catalysts for learning and innovation across all grade levels. Under no circumstances shall AI integration compromise student well-being, personal privacy, data security, or the fundamental human connection between educators and learners.

2. Core Ethical Principles

All deployment and interaction with AI systems within the school ecosystem must adhere to five foundational pillars:

• Child Protection and Safety First: Safeguarding the psychological, emotional, and digital safety of every learner is our paramount duty. AI systems must never be used to evaluate or influence child behavior in harmful ways.
• Absolute Data Privacy: Strictly protecting Personally Identifiable Information (PII) of students, parents, and staff in accordance with national data protection regulations and school safety protocols.
• Pedagogical Primacy and Human Agency: AI is a supportive tool designed to complement, not replace, teacher mentorship, student critical thinking, and collaborative classroom inquiry.
• Equity and Digital Inclusion: Ensuring all students have fair and structured access to AI technologies, mitigating socioeconomic digital divides and algorithmic biases.
• Transparency and Accountability: Maintaining open communications regarding how AI tools are integrated into curriculum design, classroom activities, and administrative operations.

3. Guidelines for Educators and Administrative Staff

3.1 Responsible Pedagogical Integration

Educators are encouraged to explore AI as an assistant for lesson planning, differentiated content creation, rubric generation, and experiential learning design. However, educators must verify all AI-generated content for factual accuracy, age-appropriateness, and cultural sensitivity prior to classroom deployment.

3.2 Data Security and Confidentiality Rules

• Never input student names, roll numbers, academic records, psychological evaluations, or personal photos into public or unapproved commercial AI models.
• Only utilize school-vetted and institutional enterprise AI platforms that feature explicit non-training data privacy guarantees.
• Ensure all school-issued credentials and access tokens for AI platforms are kept secure and not shared with unauthorized parties.

3.3 Assessment and Evaluation Integrity

AI tools must not be used as the sole or final grader for student assessments. Formative and summative evaluations require human professional judgment, qualitative teacher feedback, and nuanced contextual understanding.

4. Guidelines for Students

4.1 Authorized vs. Unauthorized AI Use

Students are guided to view AI as a thought partner and research assistant rather than a shortcut for original thought. The acceptable framework is categorized below:

4.2 Citation and Transparency Standards

When students utilize AI tools to assist in academic work, full disclosure is mandatory. Students must include an “AI Acknowledgement Statement” outlining:

• The specific AI model/tool used (e.g., ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Canva Magic Studio).
• The exact prompt(s) provided to the tool.
• How the generated output was verified, modified, or synthesized into the final submission.

5. Data Privacy, Safety, and System Governance

5.1 Platform Vetting Framework

All software, web applications, or skill lab tools utilizing AI models must undergo rigorous review by the School IT Department and Leadership before deployment. Evaluation criteria include:

1. Exclusion of student data from model training datasets.
2. Compliance with age-appropriate design codes and strict content filtering.
3. End-to-end data encryption in transit and at rest.
4. Clear opt-out protocols for parents and guardians.

5.2 Incident Reporting and AI Misuse Protocol

Any instance of algorithmic bias, unapproved data collection, generation of inappropriate content, deepfakes, or academic misconduct involving AI must be reported immediately to the School IT Support / Academic Ethics Committee. Corrective measures focus on educational counseling, restorative practices, and system configuration adjustments.

6. Institutional Roles and Implementation Matrix

7. Continuous Review and Policy Evolution

As artificial intelligence technology continues to evolve rapidly, this policy will be formally reviewed on an annual basis by the Maria’s Public School Academic and Ethics Committee. Revisions will incorporate feedback from educators, technical experts, students, and parents to maintain an agile, secure, and forward-thinking educational environment.