Ory Mangiri, who began teaching in Nduga Regency in 2010, completed an AI for Educators program and the Microsoft

Ory Mangiri, who began teaching in Nduga Regency in 2010, completed an AI for Educators program and the Microsoft Certified Educator exam and now uses Microsoft Copilot to design lesson plans and tailor materials for students.

Ory Mangiri, an educator who started teaching in Papua Pegunungan in 2010, has begun using Microsoft Copilot to reshape lesson planning after completing an AI for Educators program and passing the Microsoft Certified Educator exam. She treats Copilot as a thinking partner, using it to draft two 35‑minute lesson plans, brainstorm creative activities and simplify content to match students’ comprehension levels.

The shift takes place against a stark regional education gap highlighted by Statistics Indonesia (BPS): in 2025 the national average years of schooling for women was 8.79 years, while in Papua Pegunungan it was just 3.6 years. Those disparities provide the backdrop for efforts to bring new pedagogical approaches and digital tools to remote schools.

When Ory first arrived in Nduga Regency she confronted severe logistical barriers: no cellular network, no electricity and no land access. The post was reachable only by a small Pilatus aircraft seating seven to eight passengers, and chartering a one‑way flight cost millions of rupiah, which limited teacher travel to a few trips per year. Despite those constraints, students consistently attended class with enthusiasm.

After nearly eight years in the highlands, rising security concerns prompted the withdrawal of teachers from some posts and Ory transferred to Kenyam, the district capital. There, at SD Inpres Kenyam where she taught English, she encountered different challenges: an incompletely implemented curriculum, predominantly one‑way instruction, and many colleagues who were not accustomed to preparing lesson plans or using digital report cards.

Ory joined an AI for Educators training run by the Biji Initiative under the Microsoft Elevate program. The course emphasized mindset and instructional design over technology alone, covering fundamentals of artificial intelligence for educators, 21st‑century learning approaches and responsible AI. Ory also completed the Microsoft Certified Educator certification exam, which she said added credibility when introducing AI tools to school practice.

In practice, Ory uses Copilot to reduce planning time and to adapt activities to student needs: she drafts session outlines, generates activity ideas, and asks the tool to simplify texts and prompts to a level her students can grasp. She described initial hesitancy rooted in persistent limitations of electricity and internet connectivity, underscoring that practical rollout depends on addressing infrastructure as well as teacher training.