Edtech East Africa

Tag: Nairobi City County

  • Bridging Gaps in Education: Regional Insights for Effective EdTech Deployment in Kenya

    Bridging Gaps in Education: Regional Insights for Effective EdTech Deployment in Kenya

    By Josaya Wasonga

    Kenya is a land of contrasts. We are blessed with a variety of cultures, creeds, traditions, and geographical features. From one region to the other, we all do our things in our unique way. That’s the beauty of our country.

    And that beauty and uniqueness is seen in how each region is using EdTech apps and gadgets. For instance, though they are slaying the same dragon—foundational literacy and numeracy—the approaches of Samuel Okoth and Abdullahi  Maalim are different. 

    Sam is with the Africa Math Initiative and is based in Western Kenya. Abdullahi is the Education and Governance Sector Lead at the Frontier Counties Development Council (FCDC). Both panelists face different challenges from those affecting Elizabeth Ndung’u and Paul Akwabi. Elizabeth is the Director of Digital Economy and Startups at Nairobi County. Paul is the Executive Director of Tech Kidz Africa, based in Mombasa. 

    Four different regions: Western, Northeastern (Frontier counties), Nairobi, and Mombasa, and an opportunity to learn from each other, among other things, how to upscale EdTech solutions. 

    Correcting historical learning injustices

    The Frontier Counties Development Council (FCDC) was established to address historical challenges rooted in the 1964 Kenyan Sessional Paper, which prioritized high-potential areas. This led to remoteness, isolation, insecurity, droughts, and more recently, terror-related issues, limiting the region’s educational progress in areas like access, inclusivity, quality, infrastructure, digital content, and teacher availability.

    All these have denied the council and the region the opportunity to appreciate the key performance indicators in education, including issues on access and inclusivity, quality education, infrastructure, digital content, and proper delivery of education as a result of shortages of teachers. 

    “And it’s because of that we felt, now that we are not involved physically, we should not be left behind digitally,” Abdullahi explained. And we want to correct all the gaps that came as a result of the many years of low involvement in these areas with a lot of digital integration.”

    “We’re happy that there are many organizations that came into play, knowing very well the SDG Goal of leaving no one behind. So under that rider, we were able to start this cooperative and cooperate with many organizations that are doing a lot of work, including the Ministry of Education, under the very ambitious Digital Literacy Project of 2013, which had its issues, but it has provided the latitude for organizations to come on board.” 

    The regional summit that was held in the north unpacked many issues. Not only that. It also created opportunities. During that forum, FCDC launched two very critical digital programs. The E-book, ECD Digital Literacy, which is serving 150,000 learners in the Northeastern region. Raspberry Pi Foundation, a charity organization based in the UK, also came on board. It is supporting about 14,000 learners in grades four to eight, in eight of the 10 FCDC counties. 

    Demystifying math

    “Anyone from the western part of Kenya will tell you that we have very dull classroom environments and very dull learning environments,” Samuel noted. “You will also agree with me if you are from the western part of Kenya that our anxiety towards math learning affects our children and in turn, affects how math is perceived.” 

    Samuel and his team are trying to demystify math. They believe that maths is not a hard subject that can only be done by the smartest of the bunch. They believe that math learning should start early – at ages two or three – even before a child sets foot inside a classroom. 

    Samuel says that it doesn’t take a trained teacher to start teaching one’s child math. Your house help will do. With the help of an app, Early Family Math, your child can be doing and loving math at home. Your child can learn math through stories and activities that are fun and engaging. Plus, they can facilitate playful interaction between the parents and the child. 

    Meaningful relationships can be created out of this. The parents can foster their child’s education. And children can also be supported when they take what they learn in the classroom back at home. Starting early will give your child a head start. 

    Socio-economic activities and beliefs

    While Abdullahi is working to correct historical learning injustices and Samuel is crunching numbers to demystify math, Paul is hard at work—down at the coast—trying to deal a death blow to socio-economic activities and beliefs that have hampered education in Mombasa and its environs. 

    “It’s ironic, but there are so many unique things in Mombasa that are not even in Nairobi,” Paul said. “At some point, they will die. But when they go to Nairobi and other parts of the country, they will thrive. Mombasa was, in 2019, the first county to start robotics and coding from early childhood. This was a life-changing project. But, unfortunately, it died.” 

    “The biggest things that affect us are socio-economic activities and beliefs. We also have a high rate of school dropouts. And we are not talking about Mombasa as a city, but also places like Kilifi and Kwale.” 

    Paul has witnessed it all. He has witnessed how culture affects entire populations and causes retrogression. Besides, the number of locals who are teachers is few and in-between. This means that the Coast region has to get teachers from other communities.

    “That becomes the first barrier within the community. They don’t have role models. They don’t have people they know within their community that they can relate to who can be a teacher.”

    There are also infrastructural challenges and well as limited access to STEM. But even with all this, there are many organizations that have penetrated the market. 

    The Coast region is among the best places to pilot any edtech solution,” Paul opined. “And that’s because of the already pre-existing resistance. Because of the resistance that is there already, they start rejecting it from the get-go because it is coming from the West. Some of them still hold on to the belief that the West has ill intentions.”  

    Paul and Co. realised that, as an organization, they could bring in other partners, both global and local, and spur a synergistic working relationship between them and the county government. Speaking of which, they currently have a project that is working just in Mombasa County in partnership with Raspberry Pi Foundation for teachers to be able to integrate technology into their classrooms. 

    “We are talking about an English teacher being able to teach coding or storytelling just using coding. We are talking about a mathematics teacher being able to teach technology, infusing technology in learning as compared to when a teacher is projecting or using a projector and is telling you that he is using technology to teach math.”

    Understanding how government works

    Being the capital city, Nairobi is not just the melting pot of the East African region, but it is a crucible of sorts. It’s the place where different people from diverse backgrounds converge for work, business, learning, leisure, and other activities. As such, for instance, there are disparities in wealth as—in some cases—persons living in informal settlements right next to plush neighborhoods. 

    “People assume that, in Nairobi, schools are overstaffed,” Elizabeth said. “But nothing could be further from the truth. 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. When you divide the number of learners with the meager government resources, you will find that the resources are not adequate. 

    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.

    Nairobi has approximately 1,300 under-childhood teachers, yet they are not enough to serve the number of learners who attend schools. 

    “When it comes to partnership, something that many people don’t have an understanding of is how the government works,” Elizabeth pointed out. “The government works with a document, a five-year document called County Integrated Development Plan. And it is on the county website.” 

    “When we look at it, we’ll guide you with the programs the county has planned for the next five years and then you can see how we plan it. We also, from there, have an annual development plan. And the county government year runs from 1st July to June 31st the following year.”

    Collective action 

    The organizations that are on the ground are doing a lot of co-creation and co-design. This means that the solutions that they come up with, even if they are simple solutions, are the right solutions for that community. Why? Because the community has been involved in creating a solution for the problem. 

    EdTech East Africa has had collective action work ongoing for the past year. Looking at the challenges facing each region, and looking at what communities are doing under different pillars – foundational learning, skills for the future, equity and inclusion, supporting the capacity of leaders of learning, and then looking at what our policies say and the evidence – what the communities are doing is commendable.  

    There are a lot of good things happening on the ground. Partners are collaborating on the ground and implementing different programs. That is the way to go. 

    Conclusion 

    We may come from different regions and we are faced with different challenges. But just as education is the great equalizer, its sidekick is technology. Technology is an enabler but still, it can be integrated in class. 

    This is something that is happening in Mombasa County. They have other projects for teachers learning AI. They also have IREX, which has programs in different schools within the coastal regions, where they teach coding without using any computer.

    The same is happening in Western Kenya with apps like Early Family Math and other edtech solutions. Then there is FCDC and its partners. Each region is doing what works for them. But, in the grand scheme of things, it all adds up and the whole nation benefits. 

    As the Swahili adage goes, “Haba na haba hujaza kibaba.” Little by little fills the measure. A little from all the stakeholders, a little from all the regions, and, in due time, our nation will be miles ahead. 

  • 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.”