The document discusses the educational challenges and potential solutions in Africa, emphasizing the role of ICT in improving education and economic development. Key issues include low enrollment, high illiteracy rates, and lack of resources, while promising initiatives like Cybersmart Africa and Nokia MoMaths demonstrate innovative use of technology to enhance learning. Sustainable solutions focused on access to technology, training, and collaboration between governments and organizations are essential for transforming education in sub-Saharan Africa.

1. Education in
Africa
ICT from the bottom up

2. Social/Global
Goal
Economic Development in Africa
Through Education
Source: UNESCO Report
UWEZO Report

3. 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

4. Education Stats Africa
Last
Source: nationmaster.com: UNICEF statistics

5. 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.

6. Children out of School
Source: UNESCO Report

7. 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

8. Educational Challenges
 Teacher Training
 Classroom Resources
 Access to Information

9. 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.

10. 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

11. 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

12. Tech
Transforming
Education in Africa
 Interconnection Uganda
 CyberSmart Africa
 Nokia MoMaths

13. UGANDA

14. 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.

15. 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
Individuals
Forest Ridge School of the
Sacred Heart, Mount Si High School
WA public high schools
Gov’t of Uganda

16. 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.

17. Achievements:
 400 computers to
 30 secondary and primary
schools
 School sizes 700-2200 total
effect.
 Students find Gov’t & Educaiton

18. 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

19. SENEGAL

20. 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.

21. CyberSmart Africa
21st Century Skills for Education:
 Disruptive
 Innovative
 Scalable

22. Use of Digital Technology
 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
Photography CyberSmart website
training
Source: CyberSmart website
80% of schools in Sub-Saharan Africa without Power

23. 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.
Photography CyberSmart website

24. 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
Photography CyberSmart website

25. SOUTH AFRICA

26. Nokia MoMaths
Photography/ Source Nokia Momaths brochure

27. Use of Digital Technology
 Using mobile SMS technology to
educate students
 Raise Math scores,
 A big issue in South Africa.
Source Nokia Momaths brochure

28. 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

29. 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

30. 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.

31. 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

32. 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

33. What still needs to be done?
 Piloting Program support
 Replicate Successful Programs
 Scalability

34. Possible Investors:
It’s not always about the Benjamin's…
Source: mLearning Report Dec. 2010 GSMA

35. 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