Reformist education policymakers across Africa want national systems to focus more on equipping students with skills to meet the demands of modern society than on acquiring knowledge that often proves useless in addressing local development issues. Beyond a reorientation of curriculums, they contend, successfully shifting from knowledge-based learning – a model inherited from colonial rule – to 21st Century competence-based education also will require the integration of technology into education systems and increased private sector involvement.
This three-pronged reformist blueprint was emphasized at “Education Innovation Africa,” a new forum aimed at developing innovative partnership models to increase private sector investment in education in Sub-Saharan Africa. Created by Informa Plc., a British provider of exhibitions and training worldwide, the forum launched in June in Nairobi, Kenya, with emphasis on East Africa. Ministry officials, investors, innovators, educators and solution providers were in attendance.
The New York-based Africa-America Institute (AAI) examined this very issue of capacity building at its Second Annual State of Education in Africa conference, held Sept. 2 in Lagos, Nigeria. Institute documents cited three goals of the conference:
* Have a solution-driven conversation with policy-makers, educators, administrators, philanthropists and those interested in capacity building about the challenges and opportunities in education on the African continent;
* Elevate and mainstream the conversation on education as a key component of the economic development narrative of Africa;
* Use the institute’s convening power, visibility and thought-leadership to identify primary obstacles as well as practical interventions that must be implemented to improve the educational landscape in Africa.
“We were pleasantly surprised to hear some of the education innovations that are taking place on the continent, especially using technology, and the passion and commitment of teachers and administrators to challenge the status quo to improve learning outcomes and address education challenges,” Amini Kajunju, AAI’s president and CEO, told AfricaStrictlyBusiness.com in an interview in New York. “These new approaches are occurring often despite limited resources, large class sizes and government inaction in some Africa countries.”
AfricaStrictlyBusiness.com researchers compiled the following list of education innovations developed by Africans to address local challenges.
AfroTalez. An interactive e-learning storytelling application for children aged 2 to 10, which narrates African folktales while incorporating basic skills, such as counting and object recognition, through puzzles and other fun tasks.
BrainShare. An application that allows students from primary school through university to access and share class notes, ebooks and exam questions, and to interact with tutors and teachers in real time online.
DreamAfrica. A mobile subscription platform that allows children to read, watch and listen to original, authentic African stories at home and in school in and outside of Africa.
EduTrac. An open source mobile application that monitors education service delivery, and which can be used to collect any type of numerical data via text messaging (SMS).
Eneza Education (Mprep). Allows students in remote areas of Kenya to access quizzes and learning tools related to the national curriculum via mobile communication. Students also receive feedback and tips based on their answers. Quiz results are immediately available to advise and inform both teachers and parents on their students’ strengths and weaknesses.
Efiko. Utilizes SMS to encourage learning outside of school with curriculum-based tests available on mobile phones. The app incorporates topic-based learning, instant scoring and ranking, and social media integration while also helping students develop proficiency in technology. Teachers can take advantage of the quick student assessment to adjust instruction to best meet the needs of their students as soon as possible.
Funda. Allows students to log into classes remotely by using a unique key code provided by their education facility.
Growing Up Well. Multimedia programming of radio, TV and Internet programs that have both entertainment and educational value, with a strong emphasis on education.
iSchool. Tablet-based, total e-learning solution for primary schools in Africa.
Kenya Computer Exchange. Provides computers to underfunded schools through donations from private and corporate sponsors. The Kenya Education Fund, which administers the program, requires recipient schools to allow select students from disadvantaged backgrounds to attend the school for free.
Kytabu. An app with digital versions of Kenyan textbooks, Kytabu provides a low-cost option for accessing textbooks by allowing students from low- and middle-income families to rent by the page or by the chapter, depending on their need and budget.
Migration to e-Learning. Schools participating in the Migration to e-Learning program can pay an annual licensing fee of 300 South African Rand (about 25 US Dollars) for each tablet that has students’ textbooks preloaded on them as e-books. This significantly lowers costs for parents, who may spend about R2,000 ($170) per year on textbooks. The program also offers its digital library of educational content, including materials from National Geographic and Wikipedia, as well as TED talks, at reduced prices.
Mobile Library and Outdoor Readers Hub. Addresses the lack of school or local libraries for children (both in-school and out-of-school) living in Nigeria’s poor communities and districts.
Nafham. Encourages student-to-student interaction with its monthly competitions for peer-education videos. The program, which offers more than 10,000 videos that cover about 75 percent of the Egyptian curriculum, promotes a crowd-teaching model whereby students, as well as parents and teachers, can submit a video on a particular lesson in line with the curriculum.
NatiV. A suite of applications for mobile devices that teaches children to read Zimbabwe’s local Shona and other languages by improving their ability to associate syllables to their respective sounds.
Pass_NG. A mobile app that helps students prepare for Nigeria’s admission examinations.
Safari Tales. Developed in response to the shortage of books in Kenya, this app is interactive and available in multiple languages. Safari Tales offers African stories that may not be easily found in countries that lack educational books for children. This app is available on Android devices.
Shamba Shape Up. Locally produced TV series on agricultural development, demonstrates practical, accessible, and affordable methods that may help small-scale farmers improve their farm operations. Viewers can also ask specific questions or request free leaflets on a particular topic via text.
The Speaking Book. Bridges the gap of illiteracy in the dissemination of healthcare information. Allows users to see, read, hear and understand important healthcare information.
ZEduPad. A touch-screen tablet computer that goes hand-in-hand with every lesson in Zambia’s school syllabus (iSchool), backed up with homework for every grade. Early grades and certain other multimedia lessons are in English and local languages Lusaka Nyanja; Bemba; Kaonde; Lozi; Lunda; Luvale and Tonga.
