technology in african education: ict from the bottom up

Education in Africa

ICT from the bottom up

Social/Global Goal

Economic Development in AfricaThrough Education

Source: UNESCO Report

UWEZO Report

Sub-Saharan Africa

46 countries

800M in 2007

1.5B in 2050 (UN projection)

Lowest median age, highest birthrate

Top 8 fastest-growing cities 2010 are in Africa

10 lowest GDP per capita (17 of bottom 20)

Courtesy Rob Salkowitz

Education Stats Africa

Source: nationmaster.com: UNICEF statistics

Last

The Why?

Without proper and adequate education:

Innovation is stifled, which keeps individuals impoverished.

Technology helps to transform education in Africa by building workforce and developing entrepreneurs.

Children out of School

Source: UNESCO Report

Some tough #’s

Primary school enrollment is among the lowest in the world.

In Sub-Saharan Africa, only two-thirds of children who start primary school reach the final grade.

40% of Africans over the age of 15, and 50% of women above the age of 25 are illiterate.

Average of 40 pupils per teacher in sub-Saharan Africa, 60 to 1 in some

Source: UNICEF

Educational Challenges

Teacher Training

Classroom Resources

Access to Information

Potential Solutions

Digital Media & ICT Solutions

Increasing access to technology helps improve the quality of teaching and the learning experience for students on the front end

Efficient management and resourcing of schools by governments on the back end.

Leveraging Point

Large support and financial, institutional backing

Low cost infrastructure and a ubiquity across nations

Access to mobile and other forms of technology

Successful piloting programs

Education

Failure is not an option

Pilot programs have not been able to run

Some argue that there are not enough pilot programs implemented.

Money and resources are low.

ICT infrastructure is not ubiquitous.

Corruption and lethargy

Transforming Education in Africa

Interconnection Uganda

CyberSmart Africa

Nokia MoMaths

Tech

UGANDA

Interconnection Uganda

What they do:

A for profit social enterprise dedicated to spreading the use of information Communication Technologies (ICT) in Uganda.

ICU works in partnership with Computers for Uganda; It donates 10% of the refurbished computers to CFU.

Computers For Uganda

On June 21, 2006 Computers for Uganda departed from MIT on its fourth trip to install computer labs of fifteen computers each in 9 schools in and around Uganda's Masaka District.

Rotarians, Computers for the World IndividualsForest Ridge School of the Sacred Heart, Mount Si High School WA public high schoolsGov’t of Uganda

Use of Digital Technology

Donate and sell Computers and ICT equipment at low prices to schools.

Training for students, teachers and administrators

Hosts databases and offers data share programs

Vision to get computers in every home.

Achievements:

400 computers to

30 secondary and primary schools

School sizes 700-2200 total effect.

Students find Gov’t & Educaiton

Social Value

Pay it forward

Teach a man to fish

Use technology to raise skill level of workers in Uganda

Empower youth to become entrepreneurs

SENEGAL

CyberSmart Africa

What they do:

CyberSmart Africa reaches the poorest schools on earth with the world’s first adapted interactive whiteboard operating with inexpensive solar power. We offer a packaged service solution focused on student learning.

CyberSmart Africa

Disruptive InnovativeScalable

21st Century Skills for Education:


Access to technology and curriculum in rural schools

Using solar energy to power whiteboards

They reach more students in the classroom and help train teachers

Implementation costs are 50% Less than traditional models

Provide 50% more teacher training

80% of schools in Sub-Saharan Africa without Power

Source: CyberSmart website

Photography CyberSmart website

Social Value

Offering an innovative environmentally sustainable form of ICT education in the most difficult and distant rural locations.

This is a good representation of the Bottom of the Pyramid, extreme areas working to solve a particular issue.

They offer the largest demographic of rural poor schools access.


Achievements:

Featured on the EduTech blog by the World Bank as a viable source if battery issues could be resolved

Scalable option both in rural and urban educational settings.

Truly sustainable if it was figured out because it is solar based


SOUTH AFRICA

Nokia MoMaths

Photography/ Source Nokia Momaths brochure


Using mobile SMS technology to educate students

Raise Math scores, A big issue in South Africa.

Source Nokia Momaths brochure

Achievements

350 learners

Grade 9 to mid-year examination in grade 10

7% less for regular users of the service than their peers who did not use it regularly.

Average decline of 22% is evident

Source Nokia Momaths brochure

Results:

In 4 years-

Grade 9 to mid-year examination in grade 10

7% less for regular users of the service than their peers who did not use it regularly.

Average decline of 22% is evident

Social Value

Application for education at the bottom of the pyramid

Framework that allows many people to learn and access is a big social value.

Achievements:

Started as a pilot involving 6 schools in 4 provinces in 2009.

30 schools in 3 provinces in 2010

2011 implementation of the project to a targeted 150 schools in four provinces

Progress on the Issues

mLearning offers cheap and easy access to information

Helps at the bottom of the pyramid

Uniting Government, private and NGOs Is important to help expand educational initiatives

Training for teachers is important

Enhancing administrational support for teachers

What still needs to be done?

Piloting Program support

Replicate Successful Programs

Scalability

Source: mLearning Report Dec. 2010 GSMA

Possible Investors:

It’s not always about the Benjamin's…

Developed World Implications

If it works in extreme environments then it can work anywhere.

The use of a solar power interactive whiteboard can offer considerable savings to power bills and also be implemented in schools around the world.

M learning is a viable option for access to information anywhere

As a learning tool in all areas with access to mobile phone connection

Viable low cost solution to economically depressed areas within the western world and helps bypass the use of smartphones, an expensive alternative to mobile technology in the western world