Edtech East Africa

Tag: EdTech Evidence

  • The State of Competency-Based Education in Kenya

    By Mo Nyarinda

    On the 29th of April 2026, the Daily Nation ran a front page story “State’s shocking admission on CBE“ sharing some statistics from the Grade 3 National Assessment System for Monitoring Learner Achievement (NAMSLA) report. The NASMLA study released by the Kenya National Examinations Council reveals that nationally, only 41.4 percent of Grade 3 learners met the English Literacy benchmark while 26.8 percent met the numeracy skills benchmark of 50 percent.

    The data further shows the stark disparities by region, with West Pokot, Isiolo, and Turkana County counties having the lowest percentage of learners attaining the English literacy benchmark, and Marsabit, Busia, and Vihiga Counties recording low performance in Mathematics activities. According to the study, schools in informal settlements, refugee host counties and those that focus on age-based special needs education also had the lowest number of learners meeting foundational learning requirements. 

    These findings match the Usawa Agenda’s 2nd Foundational Literacy and Numeracy Assessment (FLANA) Report titled Are All Our Children Learning? which documents that learners in refugee community schools have significantly lower learning outcomes compared to those in public and private schools. The survey conducted across the 47 counties in Kenya found that “35 in 100 Grade 6 learners cannot read and comprehend a Grade 3 appropriate English story” and that “foundational numeracy learning outcomes have stagnated” between 2023 and 2025.   

    EdTech East Africa hosted the NRB EdTech Meetup on Wednesday, 29th April 2025 under the theme ‘Is CBE Delivering on its Learning Promise?’ Well, in terms of access to education, the FLANA report indicates that 95 out of 100 children are in school. The facilitator of the meetup, Dr. Lydia Chege, who’s the lead ecosystem building and government engagement at Mizizi Elimu Afrika started by asking participants a very simple question: How many numbers can you count on your fingers? I said ten, another person said so many! I am still figuring out how many we can as part of the task she gave us. 

    This quick exercise set the tone for the session which involved panelists from different organisations sharing their perspective on learning in the digital age and how EdTech can effectively support all learners to read, count and write. The panelists were Winnie Ongiri, the head of operations at Signvrse who shared the importance of inclusivity in education through the use of sign language for deaf learners; Emily Kathini, a teacher that shared on the need for personalised assessments for teachers to understand their learners’ needs better; and Christopher Maingi, a Mathematician and parent of a neurodivergent learner who called for EdTech developers to create early intervention plans that can enable parents to prepare learners with different abilities for school.

    The Next Steps for Stakeholders in Education

    There was consensus that indeed competency-based education (CBE) is facing several implementation challenges. At the NRB EdTech Meetup, a space for education innovators and stakeholders to meet for peer learning and exchange of ideas, the attendees shared some of the solutions that need to be replicated widely, or introduced in education for learners to improve their foundational literacy and numeracy outcomes. These include:

    • Teachers integrating technology in classrooms –  according to the FLANA report, the current national average on the uptake of ICT use in education is 47.4 percent. Teachers can continue to use EdTech in the classroom by using visual aids to improve retention, audio stories for better listening and comprehension, and the use of multi-sensory approaches to engage learners with different learning abilities
    • Capacity building – there needs to be continuous training of teachers to use EdTech tools in classrooms, and as tools that can reduce the time spent in administrative tasks so they can focus more on learners needs 
    • Increased parental engagement – parents need to be more proactive about their children; supporting them at home for effective learning and managing screentime especially for fun 
    • Introduction of adaptive assessment methods for different learners – there needs to be an early identification system which can detect learning challenges and propose assessment methods that accommodate every learner e.g. learners who struggle with written exams but are very good at oral exams or use of devices 
    What EdTech Developers and Educators Can Do 

    Education technology if deployed in school and used correctly can unlock better learning outcomes for learners. In order for this to be successful, EdTech developers should involve end users, mainly learners, teachers and parents at every stage of their design process, and test the tools with them so that they build user friendly tools. They should also apply universal design principles and accessibility considerations for all learners to benefit from, especially those with special education needs. See this practical Equity and Inclusion Toolkit developed by iHUB for educators, technologists and designers.

    Educators on the other hand should stay open to EdTech integration in schools, acknowledging that tools are not replacements for the human-teaching expertise. Both educators and EdTech innovators can also take advantage of EdTech summits, EdTech meetups and education conferences to showcase their products and be exposed to current working technologies in education. The 3rd Annual Educational Assessment Symposium by KNEC is one such event happening in Nairobi this 4th-8th May 2026 where both government and other education stakeholders are convening. Ultimately, if there are enough teachers per student in each grade, and if teachers tracked learner’s performance continuously, interventions can be introduced to ensure that foundational learning proficiency is attained by each learner by the time they complete primary education in Kenya.

    Join the next NRB EdTech Meetup on Wednesday, 27th May 2026. More details can be found on EdTech East Africa’s social media pages.

  • Using EdTech to bridge learning gaps in poor and underprivileged urban centers

    Using EdTech to bridge learning gaps in poor and underprivileged urban centers

    By Josaya Wasonga 

    The Foundation Literacy and Numeracy Assessment (FLANA) report, launched by Usawa Agenda in collaboration with Youth Initiative Kenya (Yike), titled “Are our children learning?” highlights disparities in enrollment, absenteeism, and the quality of education, particularly among vulnerable groups. 

    The findings in the report indicate that despite a national enrollment rate of 91%, Nairobi lags slightly behind at 89.4%, with more girls enrolling compared to boys. The city faces a high dropout rate, particularly among children with disabilities, at 7.1%. Also, a large number of the capital city’s children are not in school; 6.3% drop out after enrolling, and 4.3% never enroll. What’s more, 10% of girls and 11.44% of school-aged boys in Nairobi are not attending school. This out-of-school rate is higher than the national average. 

    How can EdTech be used, not just in Nairobi, but also in other urban centers across the country, to address the challenges that learners in poor and underprivileged settings face? This is one of the questions Elizabeth Ndungu tried to answer. Elizabeth, who is Nairobi County’s Director of Digital Economy and Startups, said there are various initiatives her office is undertaking to boost digital literacy and spur job creation in the green city in the sun. 

    “What we have been seeing especially within the government is that technology has been inward-facing; we have always developed technology just to serve the users,” Elizabeth said. 

    “But under the new initiative, we want to reach out to the community and also be part of the ecosystem, bringing people together. We want to lead, and that is why we have brought the community together.” 

    The new initiative is two-pronged: city governance excellence and a department of e-learning. It’s in the latter that ICT education is integrated. The county government is in charge of early childhood education in Nairobi, as well as vocational training centers. However, with rapidly increasing populations in informal settlements, the county government’s resources are stretched thin. 

    Urban centers—and, indeed, large cities like Nairobi—have unique learning issues, which require unique solutions and innovations that are specifically tuned to bridge the learning gaps in poor and underprivileged urban centers.

    Access to online resources 

    Every crisis presents an opportunity to learn and do better. Zeraki learned this during the Covid-19 pandemic. This crisis made them realize that a bolt out of the blue can happen, which can make learning impossible in a classroom or make bringing learners and teachers together a huge challenge. 

    This means that innovators should come up with tools or technologies to help so that, in such circumstances, education is not suspended. Zeraki simplifies and enhances the use of technology to deliver quality education, with products for parents, teachers, and schools. They give at-risk learners—such as those in poor and underprivileged settings—access to quality instruction. They also avail training resources to teachers. 

    Accessibility of education 

    “People assume that, in Nairobi, schools are overstaffed,” Elizabeth said. “Looking at the ratio of the resources, both human and physical resources, we still find that there is a great challenge.” 

    Nairobi has about 230 early childhood public schools and approximately 1,300 early childhood teachers. These teachers are not enough to serve the number of learners who attend schools, which will adversely impact the accessibility of education. 

    Nairobi has the highest number of private schools. Yet, not all Nairobi children have access to education because the numbers are incredibly high. There are different types of schools in Kenya. The Basic Education Act (2013) defines two categories, namely public and private schools, while the Alternative Providers of Basic Education and Training (APBET) Guidelines provide another by defining APBET schools. The APBET Policy and Guidelines (2016) are silent on the nature of ownership required for APBET schools.

    EdTech can be used to mitigate the issue of accessibility of education. Loho Learning builds technologies that mainly resolve four things, one of which is the accessibility of education. The others are innovation around the affordability of quality education, inclusive education, and data and insights into quality education. 

    Automating assessments

    A big percentage of schools in resource-constrained urban areas still rely on the old chalk-and-blackboard method of instruction in classrooms. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) recommends a teacher-student ratio of 25 students per teacher for primary schools. 

    The TSC recommends a pupil-teacher ratio (PTR) of 40:1 for the primary level. The overall PTR was 24 pupils to a teacher at the primary and pre-primary level. According to a 2020 study by the Ministry of Education, of the 17 sub-counties in Nairobi, Starehe recorded the lowest PTR (it also had fewer schools participating in the study), while Njiru had the highest PTR of 29 learners per teacher.

    However, according to a 2015 BBC report, the pupil-teacher ratio has steadily increased since 2012. One Nairobi school, the Olympic Primary School, admitted that some classes have as many as 120 pupils in one room, handled by one teacher. 

    This presents many challenges, one of which is assessment, which is an important component of transition. CBC Grade books are strenuous and time-consuming to fill and tend to be utilized only at the end of the term. Kurasa enables teachers to conduct formative, summative, and performance-based assessments to support the competency-based approach to teaching and learning. This includes both KICD and non-KICD evaluations. 

    Kurasa offers a revolutionary way to implement and manage CBC online easily. Assessments can be filled in time by all teachers simultaneously and reports sent out to parents weekly. 

    Virtual classrooms 

    Not all schools in Nairobi have access to technology. Others lack vital infrastructure, and, as such, this hampers access to EdTech solutions. Which means that children do not have equal learning opportunities. What’s the city supposed to do in situations like this? 

    The answer is virtual classrooms. As a speaker in the AI in education forum stated, the city can borrow lessons from what the FCDC and other education partners did. In the frontier counties, they have hubs that have electricity, which they can plug into their laptops. From one hub, for instance, one science teacher can transmit a lesson to five or six different schools. 

    Bridging the tech gap 

    Another gap that needs to be bridged is that of technology. Not all teachers have the digital skills and have to play catchup with the learners. That gap that exists between the digital immigrants and the digital natives affects learning outcomes. 

    “Nairobi has a unique generational gap challenge in that a school may have teachers who have been teaching for 15-20 years, and they have learners who span different generations: millennials, Gen Z, and Gen Alphas,” Elizabeth said.  

    That’s where a provider like Ntemata comes in, whose core business is automating assessment processes for teachers as well as holistically analysing competency learning. Ntemata is in the business of supporting teachers so that, in return, they can be fully engaged with their learners. A teacher who is better equipped with EdTech tools is in a prime position to make learners perform better. 

    Conclusion 

    “In Nairobi, we have parents who suffer from TB— “Too Busy”—and in this case, the teachers become the parents,” Elizabeth said. “Currently everybody is talking about mental health issues. Yet we are heaping more burdens on our teachers. They are the parents, the nurses, the doctors, the cooks, and everything.” 

    There is a need for systems where teachers can develop resilience on their own. They also need systems and safe places where they can develop their mental health and be in a position to address the myriad needs of learners.  

    “Let us also think about other aspects concerning support groups and virtual learning for both the teachers and the learners,” Elizabeth concluded. “That they can have virtual discussion groups in different areas because we find we are encouraging and building talent.”

  • How Evidence-Based Practices Strengthen the EdTech Ecosystem: Insights from 2024 EdTech Summit: Kenya Edition

    How Evidence-Based Practices Strengthen the EdTech Ecosystem: Insights from 2024 EdTech Summit: Kenya Edition

    By Josaya Wasonga

    Evidence is the appearance from which inferences may be drawn. It also means ground for belief or obviousness. In the EdTech space, evidence is as important as any other variable needed to make this ecosystem work like a finely tuned Swiss wristwatch. 

    Evidence was the topic of discussion in the opening panel of the 3rd Kenyan edition of the EdTech Summit. Why is evidence so important? Good question. Because it’s the solid basis for implementing solutions, future paths can be charted and corrective measures can be made. Because, just as in a court case, it’s the basis on which stakeholders can deduce judgments. Because evidence makes players more strategic in their interventions.  

    The panelists in this session on strengthening EdTech with evidence were Elizabeth Otieno, Ciku Mbugua, Dr. Tiberius Barasa, and  Barnabas Sang. Elizabeth is from the Directorate of Basic Primary Education in the Ministry of Education (MoE). Ciku is the co-leader for the EdTech Hub. Dr. Barasa is a policy researcher and analyst. He’s a lecturer at Bomet University College and is on secondment to MoE. Sang is the Director of ICT for the State Department for Basic Education under the MoE.  

    Director Sang, who was in Italy attending a training about AI in education, joined the panel virtually. He spoke about KEMIS, which will lay the groundwork for a more data-driven, equitable, and accountable education system. (It is yet to be officially called KEMIS, though, because it requires legal duplication). MoE will also explore how these systems will align with the national education sector strategic plan. 

    Sang stated that they want to improve the efforts of other stakeholders, more precisely target their interventions, and close the gaps that the data reveals.

    Data is king 

    KEMIS is an essential pillar in Kenyan digital transformation and education. This system allows for real-time data collection of student enrollment, attendance, and resources, offering an unprecedented level of visibility into the education landscape. For instance, the platform ensures transparency in the distribution of resources, such as free education. It will also enable the government to allocate resources more efficiently.

    Data is not only a mere tool for monitoring progress but is also a critical driver of policy formulation. NEMIS serves as the backbone of collecting accurate and timely data, which informs policy aimed at improving education outcomes. What this unlocks for a researcher or funder is the ability to understand more about the teachers and the learners that you want to serve. 

    The work that Sang and his team are doing to bring all of these different diverse data sets together will create more insights into what’s actually happening on the ground for learners, teachers, and families across Kenya. 

    One of the initiatives Sang mentioned is the Education Evidence Hub. It is a way for players in the EdTech space to utilize some of this data, which has much more evidence that’s being generated across diverse EdTech ecosystems. 

    Education Evidence Hub

    “All of you have been sitting here as partners in education; there are interventions that you are undertaking,” Elizabeth threw down the gauntlet. “And if I ask you, what influences your intervention? What is influencing your action? Maybe you heard somebody say it.”  

    Those are the ills that the Evidence Hub, which is a simple connector between data, wants to cure. It will be a one-stop source of information at MoE, which will generate information on all the questions and challenges in education. For some, MoE is going to find an approach via policy gaps. They will do this by carrying out surveys generating real data and working with universities to generate data. 

    The Evidence Hub is going to work with all three tech departments and all partners. It is not a property of MoE. It is our system at the education center. 

    “After we have identified gaps, we are going to collect information from the Ministry of Education,” Elizabeth explained. “We are going to look at the issues around the existing gaps.” 

    “And I’ll give you an example. There could be a gap in the response to the health issues of children. If you ask parents if they are sure about the safety of their children, they will have different answers. But at the ministry, what is the data that we have? What is the data on sanitation? What is the data on water availability in our schools? What is the evidence?” 

    ICT will be a tool to help MoE package information, deploy it on numerous servers, and package it so that the general public, educators, education managers, and students can easily consume it.

    What’s the end game? To get processes and structures to produce and use data and evidence for policy impact. That’s one. And two is to improve the skills that are administered to help people generate, analyze, and synthesize data and package it purposefully for policy. 

    Evidence in lecture halls  

    The proof of the pudding is in the eating. And the proof that evidence is real and grounded in reality can be found on the ground. One such ground is a lecture hall. No one knows this better than Dr. Barasa. 

    Dr. Barasa witnessed firsthand how COVID-19 forced lecturers and higher learning institutions to change their teaching methodologies. 

    “Within a short time, nearly eight percent of universities in Kenya started offering their programs online,” Dr. Barasa said. “There was rapid training of lectures to be able to teach using technology. Many lecturers found it very difficult. Some old professors found it torturous to teach online. But they had no option but to do it.” 

    Bomet University College, where Dr. Barasa plies his trade, teaches all its students ICT. They have adopted blended learning; lecturers need to utilize at least 40% of their time using technology or doing blended learning. Some lecturers have gone a step further and offer their programs up to 60-50% using technology. 

    “Students seem to love it; they enjoy it; it’s very interactive. And the assessments have shown that as we interact with students or engage them online, they increase their learning ability, and they experience deep learning as opposed to shallow learning.”  

    Dr. Barasa shared a student’s experience concerning the use of technology and evidence in decision-making. 

    “From the very beginning, I use engagement methodologies. I engage the students before I start to teach. I ask them about the expectations of the course, and they all write them down and present them. I engage them at every stage of learning in the delivery of the content because I don’t deliver much content. They do it themselves. I also engage them about the assessments.”

    Dr. Barasa ensures that every learning activity has student input. He uses simulations and case studies. A student came up to him and confessed that he had never experienced deep learning as much as he had within that course in public policy analysis. The most interesting thing for this student was a real policy scenario and analysis right from the problem identification, decision-making, and evaluation. And for him, he had integrated all the aspects of quality analysis that he required for his life. Upon graduation, this student went ahead to enroll in a Master’s program in public policy at the University of Nairobi. 

    This just goes to show that the use of technology can improve teaching and learning in universities. Besides, it can also generate important evidence that will inform public policy. 

    Research gap

    In education, if there is one thing that stakeholders can never have enough of, it is research. Without adequate research, which harvests tons of invaluable pieces of evidence, we will not hit our targets. And this is because, without evidence, it is akin to shooting in the dark while blindfolded. Which is a high risk that stakeholders cannot afford to take. 

    As a nation, we haven’t yet scratched the surface of the 2 percent of what is desired to support research. In the initial stage, we are operating with 0.4 percent of the national budget to support research. It is hoped that in the next budgeting year, the research budget will increase to probably about 0.8 percent. 

    “The support from the national government concerning finance for research is still meager,” Dr. Barasa said. “And of course, we understand the constraints that the government is going through regarding finances. But we hope that will improve and that allows all interested stakeholders to come in and support our research at the universities.”  

    Generating evidence through implementation 

    “As EdTech Hub, we’re in the business of generating evidence,” Ciku stated. “Which is why we’re a key partner at the EdTech Summit. We believe that technology cannot only be accelerated, but we need evidence to be able to scale.” 

    “Why hasn’t EdTech realized its potential?” an audience member asked. 

    “There isn’t a lot of evidence out there,” Ciku replied. “There are so many key issues that are under research. However, where evidence is available, it’s hard to find and hard to read.” 

    EdTech Hub often collaborates with researchers. They generate evidence that makes it into some of the top journals. However, it can be difficult for a layman to read and understand those journal articles. This is why there is a need to find better ways to package evidence based on who researchers are talking to. And the flip side is that it is hard to make good-quality decisions if you don’t have good evidence.

    Sandbox 

    of proving orThe idea of a sandbox, which comes from the tech community budget, involves carving out mini systems within boxes with the purpose of proving or testing our assumptions. 

    Here’s the thing: there’s a lot of uncertainty at the beginning of implementing edtech solutions. Plus, it is extremely expensive. The best way to go about it is to start in a small way and test your idea before you invest all of your money in something that you’re not sure about. The more the uncertainty decreases, then, as an analyst, you can begin to improve your expenditure or your investment in it. 

    Edtech exists within a wider ecosystem. You cannot afford to live on an island. Even when in a sandbox, you should think about the bigger picture. 

    “When we are doing our sandboxes, we use what we call the six keys,” Ciku explained. “What is this product? What is it going to be used for? Who are the people that are going to use it? Do we have provision for it, or will we introduce it into schools and then in six months we have to bow out because we haven’t thought about the cost-effectiveness? What is the place that it is going to be used in?” 

    Conclusion

    Edtech doesn’t operate in isolation. It’s part of a much wider ecosystem. It deals with every facet that surrounds learning. And all these facets revolve around evidence. Which means that we cannot work on assumptions. It is either solid evidence or nothing at all. 

    Evidence bolsters the work of all stakeholders. It ensures that the entire ecosystem thrives. But for this to happen, the evidence must not only be shared liberally, but ought to be in a language that can be easily chewed and swallowed by all stakeholders, be they the proletariat or university professors.