MIT Solve

Solution overview

Our Solution

M-Lugha

Tagline

Education for everyone, anywhere and anytime!

Pitch us on your solution

As a pastoralist community,we comfortably speak and understand our first language (L1) before we go to school. Imagine walking into a class for the first time,the language of instruction is Either English or Swahili and above all the teacher is a non local who don't understand your L1? Imagine dressing up for school one morning but you are told "no school for you today,we are moving to look for pasture" Imagine,having a passion to learn but there is no school around or the nearest school is 20km away? -

The language policy by the curriculum developers in Kenya states that kids in rural areas should be taught using their respective mother tongues.M-Lugha Mobile apps translated the Early childhood development Education syllabus(all subjects) to indigenous languages. With Solar powered kids Tablet and M-Lugha Apps,rural kids can access ECD digital content anywhere and anytime while learning with their mother tongue!

Embed your elevator pitch here:

What is the problem you are solving?

M-Lugha solves the following problems:

Lack of enough teachers due to insecurity in the northern part of Kenya.
Terrorists target non locals.
Language incompetence because language of instruction is not our L1.
Non-Local Teachers and local pupils language barrier.
Digital literacy for rural kids
Lack of enough schools
School dropout due to constant movement form one place to another in-search for pasture for the livestock.

Statistics shows that a class 2 pupil in urban centers can comfortably express themselves than a class 6 pupil in the rural areas.School drop out rate in the rural areas is 8% and enrollment rate is 11% due to persistent drought,famine and inter community conflicts.

Who are you serving?

Before my EdTech journey ,i was working as a telecom Engineer specialized in Optical networks, i enrolled to a masters course in Education Technology to find technological solution to our unending education crisis. With the help of competent ECD teachers we managed to create mother tongue based digital content in line with the Kenyan Curriculum.

We managed to translate the syllabus into 19 Kenyan local vernaculars mostly pluralists and rural population. The pastoral and rural make 60% of the Kenyan population.

M-Lugha will make the syllabus available in their local vernacular hence improve the quality of education in rural area.

What is your solution?

With solar powered and M-lugha Apps,ECD kids in rural area can access the syllabus anywhere and anytime without the teacher's help because it translates the syllabus to the L1 of the child.

Select only the most relevant.

Enable parents and caregivers to support their children’s overall development
Prepare children for primary school through exploration and early literacy skills

Where is your solution team headquartered?

Garissa, Kenya

Our solution's stage of development:

Scale

More about your solution

Select one of the below:

New technology

Describe what makes your solution innovative.

The Language of instruction in Kenya is English/Swahili, Most Rural and pastoral communities only understand their local mother tongue,it becomes challenging for the kids to cope up with the syllabus.From personal experience, i could not read or write well up to the level of class six due to the language barrier. Lately, there has been several terror attacks targeting non local teachers in our north eastern regions,most teachers fled, most school have less than 5 teachers with more than 500 pupils, to fill that teacher to pupil ratio gap,we translated the syllabus into the local vernaculars so that pupils can study alone or get supplementary content.

Describe the core technology that your solution utilizes.

M-Lugha is a new unique mobile Apps.

Select from the options below:

Indigenous Knowledge

Why do you expect your solution to address the problem?

The Language of instruction in Kenya is English/Swahili, Most Rural and
pastoral communities only understand their local mother tongue,it
becomes challenging for the kids to cope up with the syllabus.From
personal experience, i could not read or write well up to the level of
class six due to the language barrier. Lately, there has been several
terror attacks targeting non local teachers in our north eastern
regions,most teachers fled, most school have less than 5 teachers with
more than 500 pupils, to fill that teacher to pupil ratio gap,we
translated the syllabus into the local vernaculars so that pupils can
study alone or get supplementary content.

Select the key characteristics of the population your solution serves.

Rural Residents
Peri-Urban Residents
Very Poor/Poor
Minorities/Previously Excluded Populations

In which countries do you currently operate?

Djibouti
Rwanda
Somalia
Sudan
Tanzania
Uganda
Kenya

In which countries will you be operating within the next year?

Djibouti
Rwanda
Somalia
Sudan
Tanzania
Uganda
Kenya

How many people are you currently serving with your solution? How many will you be serving in one year? How about in five years?

people currently serving with my solution is 7000

one year= 2 million

Five Years= 10 million

What are your goals within the next year and within the next five years?

My goals within the next year is to get the capacity to create mother tongue based digital content for the 43 tribes living in Kenya, Crate digital content for grade 1,2 and 3. Get a solar powered tablets assembly plant.

My goals within the next five years is to penetrate the Kenyan market and start businesses in the neighboring east African countries eg Rwanda,Somalia,Tanzania,Uganda etc

What are the barriers that currently exist for you to accomplish your goals for the next year and for the next five years?

Lack of funding to import solar powered tablets, funding to reach out to more communities other than the 19 currently covered, funding to create more local content eg story telling and gaming, funding to create digital content for grade 1,2,3 since the language policy only allows mother tongue mode of instruction up to grade 3.

Language policy in Kenya clear about the use indigenous languages in rural kids but i might encounter some problems with the language policies in some east African countries.

How are you planning to overcome these barriers?

Look for funding and partnerships.

Engage the education stakeholders on language policies in their respective countries.

If your solution has a website, provide a link here:

https://mlugha.northfronttech.co.ke/

If your solution proposes an app that is available, provide a link to your app online or in an app store here:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ke.co.northfronttechnologies.m_lughanep_kicd_english_somali_paid

If you have additional video, provide a YouTube or Vimeo link to your video here:

About your team

Your business model & funding

Partnership potential

Why are you applying to Solve?

Funding and financial barrier.

What types of connections and partnerships would be most catalytic for your solution?

Business model
Technology
Distribution
Funding and revenue model
Talent or board members
Legal
Monitoring and evaluation
Media and speaking opportunities

If you selected Other, please explain here.

None

With what organizations would you like to partner, and how would you like to partner with them?

The 47 County governments in kenya (ECD is a devolved function) for administrative and financial support.

Save the children organization for child support

UNICEF for funding and support

Plasma for hardware acquisition

Safaricom Limited for communication

If you would like to apply for the AI Innovations Prize, describe how you and your team will utilize the prize to advance your solution. If you are not already using AI in your solution, explain why it is necessary for your solution to be successful and how you plan to incorporate it.

we would use AI in speech recognition,problem solving ,learning and planing.

If you would like to apply for the Innovation for Women Prize, describe how you and your team will utilize the prize to advance your solution.

Girl child education.in our regions we are notoriously known to exercise early child marriage and lack of girl child education support.

If you would like to apply for the Innospark Ventures Prize, describe how you and your team will utilize the prize to advance your solution. If your solution utilizes data, describe how you will ensure that the data is sourced, maintained, and used ethically and responsibly.

None