LEAP

The smartphone in your hand is your gateway to a better future through LEAP education service.

In Ghana, public school students have limited access to computer due to lack of availability to be proficient in basic computer skills to meet curriculum or employment requirements. Teachers from Ghana teach students how to use Microsoft Word on a blackboard by using colored chalk to painstakingly draw a version of the computer screen onto the blackboard. Because the students had never used a real computer, they are unable to graduate with good score in ICT or have the relevant skill and this impedes their opportunities.

To tackle this problem, we are working on an end to end solution with four different parts.

The main core of our solution is a training program to enable students to perform basic ICT tasks relevant to curriculum and workforce on smartphone instead of computer. This means editing document, working with spreadsheet, and composing email are done on smartphone itself. We maximize the use of existing and free ICT soft resources and available smartphone in the ecosystem to achieve the basic training rather than heavily investing in hard infrastructure. We will service schools by training ICT teachers to be able to teach the students with our curriculum.

In the second part, we are working with NGO and telecom operators to secure old smartphones at almost zero cost to provide to students who do not own smartphones. Smartphone penetration in Ghana’s youth is very high and early survey suggests about 80% penetration. Students will use their personal smartphone in classes, while we also offer smartphone to students without one.

In the third part, we are currently working with local IT training partners to prepare training for the teachers. Microsoft and Google will also play a vital part in the curriculum development of the training program and then the initial training and professional development. These companies own technology tools which is most relevant to the requirement of the students today which is available at no cost.

The final part is the collaboration with the Ghana Education Service to integrate an alternative method of learning in the curriculum. We also coordinate with local companies in Ghana and have surveyed them regarding their interest in applicants who are proficient with smartphone tasking and have received positive response. Thus, students after receiving the training shall be able to compete in the national exam and also has proficiency in smartphone productivity suite.

We believe we are shifting the paradigm. Our solution employs alternative, readily-available ICT device (smartphone) as replacement device to computers; hence, minimizing infrastructure investment. We also tap on readily-accessible software resources as a way to optimize existing resources. Once the curriculum is well defined and accepted, scaling is imminent. Smartphone penetration is developing countries are still much higher than computer and the program can be extended easily with minimal cost. This can create opportunities for millions of youth in Ghana, then Africa and then most of the underdeveloped nations. The project also contributes to reducing resource consumption and creating positive environmental impact.

Our solution leverage existing smartphone in the hand of the students. Smartphone penetration is very high among youths in Ghana, both in Urban and Rural area. Thus, we believe that the solution can be deployed with very low investment by us and the students. The smartphone will not be included as a learning device in classroom. We believe that with the right training and knowledge, all the students in Ghana can take advantage of the smartphone to study what the curriculum offers as well as pick up the relevant IT skills needed for entry level jobs.

Our solution depends will only be successful if the students can fully take advantage of their smartphone, which is one of the most comprehensive technology they already have in their hands. Without the smartphone, the solution is irrelevant. Our solution proposes young Ghanaian students and workforce to leapfrog the entire computer generation to the smartphone generation for the growing Ghanaian population. Whatever can be done and accomplished on the computer, the smartphone can do it and sometime do it better, faster, cheaper and always on the go.

Over the next 12 months, we aim to be integrated into four schools in the Greater Accra region in Ghana. Our ground team is currently working with the local schools, the IT hubs, local accelerator programs and the Ghana Educational service to ensure that this goal is accomplished. The initial phase also includes the drafting of the curriculum in partnership with major technology partners before the deployment of the training program. However, the acceptance and deployment of the training program completes early, we will try to complete up to ten schools within the first year.

Our vision is to provide the training solution as well as provide access to smartphone to the needy to the entire sub-Saharan Africa and India within the next five years. This can be accomplished with recognition and acceptance and finally promotion by the Ghanaian authorities. We aim to give the students the edge to be able to pursue further education, a career or even start their own ventures with the IT knowledge that will be a tool to help them be successful. We believe that the curriculum and the partnership with technology companies are the backbones in scaling the solution.

The beneficiaries are both secondary school students and educators in Ghana. Students will benefit from modern education methods while LEAP will support educators in teaching ICT. Today, teachers in Ghana are drawing the graphic interface of MS Word to teach the students how to use it. We believe that with updated curriculum and using smartphones that most already have, ICT education will be more practical. As there is a new influx of school each year, there will be new beneficiaries every year. Moreover, continuous retraining of educators and a sustainable and cost-effective solution for the schools should continuously engage them.

Currently, we have not deployed our solution yet as we are in the prototyping stage. We are currently validating our assumptions, connecting with potential employers in Ghana who are interested in engagement with this project, creating partnership with Ghana Education Service, Microsoft, and Google in drafting the curriculum and creating certifications, working with NGOs for sourcing donated smartphone and collaborating with schools in the greater Accra region for the deployment of the pilot program. All these processes are taking place simultaneously and we aim to serve at least 200 students and four schools by this year.

The primary benefactors of the solution will be students in secondary school in Ghana. The solution will provide them with the basic ICT Skills to have a better opportunity. We aim to provide training to more than 10,000 students in the next three years all over Africa and India. The process is to work with the education agency of the government, train the teachers and provide them with materials and then the teachers will train the students. This train the teacher together with work with national agency model will allow access to more students and create a bigger impact.

Our team member hail from different background and complements each. First member is in Ghana and operates a training/accelerator hub. He is working with the schools and Ghana educational service to gain acceptance of the solution as well as provide facility and location for training. Second member is an expert in Educational startup in Thailand especially in AI and assessment of student skills and industry matching. Next two members are educators in Thailand and Pakistan respectively and have real insights. The fifth member works in corporate Singapore and provides financial planning and access to corporate sponsorship and partnership.

Our solutions plan to provide the training solution at lower than cost to school teachers as well as provide free smartphones to students in need. In order to offset these cost, we will partner with local training hub to provide similar training to adults and private school students who can afford to pay the fees. The projected cost of the training will be 30 USD per person and we project to reach approximately 1,000 paid trainers yearly. We have also explored and believe that we can get annual government grant to cover the training for the school teachers. We also believe that there will be revenue from matching the students to prospective employers as we will be working with both the academia and the industry. Lastly, a part of the revenue will be from corporate sponsorship and advertisement. We have already begun discussing this with potential partners.

We believe our solution has potential to make a global impact and changes lives. However, none of us are existing social entrepreneurs or have recognition in the education domain globally. Moreover, the solution has the potential to be improved if we include experts as well as more partners in the industry. We believe that Solve can connect us to field experts, business leaders, and possibly, app developers who can design our mobile training solution app for schools that we cannot reach. Moreover, solve will provide us with publicity and awareness as well as recognition of our solution.

We believe that the commitment and engagement of our technology partners such as Microsoft and Google will be integral in making the solution a success. Our partners will play four major roles. First, their input into the training curriculum and training course will provide the foundation for the program. Secondly, their presence as partners will bring acceptance of our solution to the job seekers and employers alike. Thirdly, we believe that having global leaders in technology as our partner will garner trust from government agencies in our solution. Lastly, we would like them to provide funding for the project also.