The Macau Federation of Trade Unions (aka Gung Luen) co-hosted a press conference with Lou Hau High School yesterday about the findings of its survey showing that nearly 84 percent of local middle school students use AI to do their homework.
Directly translated from its Chinese name, the poll is titled “Survey and assessment of the current social status of the personalised development of secondary school students in Macau, and comparison with secondary schools in the Greater Bay Area”. It was conducted by Gung Luen (Macau Federation of Trade Unions FAOM) and Lou Hau High School in conjunction with the Macau Foundation (FM).
The press conference was held at Gung Luen’s Family and Community Services Centre in Fai Chi Kei district.
The survey collected data from around 2,000 students during 2025.
The findings reveal that only 3.14 percent of the respondents never used AI, while 83.77 percent use AI to do their homework, followed by revision prior to examinations.
According to the findings, students underlined key issues with AI tools, including insufficiently precise content recommendations (56.9 percent), lack of synchronisation with textbook progression (37.5 percent), limited resource coverage (35.6 percent) and a lack of engaging content (32.1 percent).
Compared to students in the 11-city Greater Bay Area (GBA), Macau students exhibit a higher dependency on AI (frequency of weekly usage: 62.9 percent in Macau, around 37 percent in the GBA as a whole). The local respondents also were more concerned about the potential impact on their independent thinking abilities (47.9 percent in Macau, 43.6 percent in the GBA as a whole).
5 recommendations
Base on the findings, the association representatives presented during the press conference five recommendations: clarifying personalised learning objectives, optimising smart teaching platforms, systematically enhancing teachers’ AI application capabilities, and guiding students and parents to adopt correct perspectives on AI usage. These measures aim to address the challenges and opportunities presented by the integration of technology into education, the association representatives concluded.
The GBA consists of nine cities in Guangdong Province and the nation’s two special administrative regions (SARs) – Hong Kong and Macau.
Lawmaker Lam Lon Wai (centre), who will become Gung Luen’s chairman next month, Lou Hau High School Principal Zheng Jiezhao (second from left) and other representatives pose during yesterday’s press conference at Gung Luen’s Family and Community Services Centre in Fai Chi Kei district. – Photo courtesy of Gung Luen
