Teleschools Digital Education System

1. NIGERIA - DIGITALLY EXCLUDED SCHOOLCHILDREN

There are 41 million Nigerian schoolchildren aged 0-16 years. Only 30% of them have access to Digital Learning. Low income students are less likely to have access to digital devices or high-speed internet. Lack of access to technology driven learning systems results in lower academic achievement and limited opportunities. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the urgency of addressing the digital divide especially in the education sector and particularly at the basic education level, primary and secondary schooling. Equal access to digital learning is not a privilege, it's a right that every student deserves regardless of their socioeconomic background.

2. NIGERIA - OUT OF SCHOOL CHILDREN

There are also more than 20 million out of school children in Nigeria,. They are mainly Almajiri children or urban Northern street urchins, condemned to a bleak future of street begging once they graduate from Koranic recital school, which is the only form of education they will ever receive.

3. NIGERIA - DISPLACED CHILDREN DUE TO INSURGENCY & TERRORIST ACTIVITY

Borno State, epicentre of Nigeria's Boko Haram insurgency, has lost over 5000 classrooms in the last seventeen years to internally bred terrorist activities. This translates to about 120,000 children denied their right to education and a foundation for a good quality of life. Primary education in Borno State has received a terrible blow, with hundreds of thousands of children out of school for varying periods since the insurgency began over a decade ago. If you add other States in Northern Nigeria that are facing the same crisis, the number of schoolchildren involved would approach a million and the costs to put them back in school would balloon into hundreds of millions of dollars. The State governments involved simply don't have the money.

4. GLOBAL OUT OF SCHOOL CHILDREN

UNESCO Institute for Statistics estimates that about 258 million children and youth are out of school, according to UIS data for the school year ending in 2018. The total includes 59 million children of primary school age, 62 million of lower secondary school age and 138 million of upper secondary age.

Teleschools utilizes Digital TV broadcast technology to achieve widest possible reach, based on high TV ownership in developing and developed regions and across socio-economic groups. It also taps into the unrestricted reach of satellite broadcast signal across wide geographical areas. Multicast digital TV broadcast offers massive economies of scale, to reduce cost of education content delivery per student, based on significant enrolment of schools on a State or Regional basis, multicast TV fixed total cost per broadcast stream and defined coverage area. This reduces cost of the service proportionately per student as the user base increases.

Teleschools employs Mobile Telephony (Voice and text) to achieve teacher to students and also student to student interactivity in order to deliver classroom ambience for students and their teachers. It also uses Satellite based content transfer service to enable teachers disseminate assignments and tutorial material to students.

Teleschools' Advertising-revenue-based financing meaning there will be no recurrent charges to students after they have acquired access equipment for Teleschools’ service.

Its locally assembled low cost access equipment costs significantly less (about one third or less) compared to cost of equipment or smart devices required for Internet based online learning.

Teleschools provides a low cost but high quality, rapid back to school solution for children forced to discontinue onsite, regular schooling due to socio-economic, health, political, military, criminal or otherwise originated adverse activity that has resulted in restriction of movement, limitation of physical interaction and/or displacement locally or internationally.

Teleschools enables children who are victims of backward socio-cultural or religious practices to access high quality standardized classroom content comparable with the high fee paying schools, thereby addressing legacy out -of-school children populations, perpetuated by exploitative religious and cultural practices as well as high levels of inner city or conurbation poverty.

Teleschools also addresses digitally excluded schoolchildren whose families and community public schooling system cannot afford the annuity cost requirements for Internet-based digital learning systems.

Teleschools Digital Education System serves well within extremely economically disadvantaged economies, regions and communities where it is nearly impossible to physically aggregate the necessary components required for good quality education delivery.

Teleschools team consists of versatile experienced professionals and global service providers who have been involved with providing technology and telecommunications services and also consumer goods to consumers in developing economies on three continents and one sub-continent - Europe, Africa, Asia and the Middle East. This has afforded the team the ability to identify low cost solution models to address needs of populations in economies where infrastructure is underdeveloped, income is suboptimal and there are few to none existing support systems to aid the spread of technology and provide ease of access to modern goods and services.

The team consists mainly of Nigerians, raised and trained in Nigeria, who have worked in different parts of the world across North America, Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East, gathering experience and skills in best practices and global success models for delivering world class solutions in developing markets. They understand the local challenges and are able to bring their experience to bear in designing accessible and affordable solutions to life in sustainable models that can be rapidly expanded across Nigeria.

The Non-Nigerians in the team have very deep experience and familiarity with Africa, Middle East and Asian markets where they have provided and continue to provide highly customised and localised services that improve the lives of the consumers they serve.

Teleschools' lead and its main visioner, Olanrewaju Oke, had previously led the most successful digital enrollment of the educational sector in the early days of broadband telecommunication expansion in Nigeria in the early 2000s. This was formally and nationally acknowledged by the Nigerian Telecommunications regulator. He has also done significant Corporate Social Responsibility  (CSR) development work with indigent individuals and groups in Nigeria, over last two and a half decades, as part of his Christian pastoral training and assignments.

MTN, the most successful mobile operator in Nigeria and in Africa, is perhaps the single most significant private corporate contributor to the development of education in Nigeria through its CSR activities. SES, the world's leading satellite operator, is the largest carrier of free-to-air across the West African subcontinent with over 100 channels currently active on-air.

Teleschools, in collaboration with its partners, has built a LAN based digital library for schools that is completely devoid of Internet usage except for troubleshooting and maintenance by remote technical resources. We have also developed Digital satellite delivery of educational content to lite-version satellite receiver systems deployed for out of school children We are currently engaging over 600 schools through their decision makers and we have run training for over 100 schools. We are also running demos as part of our sales activity.

Networking and learning opportunities with innovators solving similar problems in others parts of the world. Also to gain a better understanding of the startup financing opportunities available outside Nigeria and Africa. Finally, to benefit from the startup incubator program.

Teleschools is:

1. A  learning platform that eliminates quality of education gaps between privileged children and children from less privileged backgrounds. It is also a self-financing model ensuring that it is sustainable when deployed in economically challenged communities.

2. Low barrier access to digital learning for school children in preparation for full online engagement when cost of online access and devices fall within reach of all children of basic schooling age.

3. A low cost, rapid intervention and recovery model to protect continuity of education for schools and school children in distressed communities with restricted movement, limitation of physical contact and interaction or mass displacement caused, among other things, by natural disasters, breakout of pandemic or acts of violence, including attacks on educational facilities, kidnap and/or assault of students and teachers, and acts of war.

4. A digital registration platform for all students which would evolve into the most comprehensive National and State basic education database in the history of the Nigeria and eventually globally.  This will, in turn, enable more robust administration of the education sector on a data-driven basis.

5. A digital switchover accelerator or public digital catalyst that will rapidly drive up digital engagement levels among families of children of basic education age, thereby creating a ready base to receive other innovative digital services that Nigeria and other participating nations may have to offer to its citizenry on an individual or family basis.

6. A major innovative step in the right direction for schools and also for the Ministry of Education in all States (Regions) of Nigeria as digital education is the future and has become an ongoing feature of education delivery. It also subscribes to the philosophy that the school ecosystem is still the best learning environment for children of basic education age and it employs technology to ensure that children can remain in school and continue to learn even when physical conditions are not conducive.

Education significantly alters outcomes at all levels: personal, community, regional and even across continents. The massive promotion and adoption of western education in colonial Africa created an aware population that was able to establish a case for independence of the countries from the Western colonial powers, Post-colonial Nigeria continued to invest in mass, subsidised education for its teeming population and is today the largest economy on the African continent1 with the highest inflow in Africa of transfers from workers abroad2. Nigerians were at one time the most educated immigrants in the United States of America but recently have slipped to a position behind India, South Africa and ten other countries3.

A better educated and informed Nigerian population has also resulted in major improvement in key public health metrics over last six decades, since independence, including eradication of polio4.

Additionally, the education of the girl child has led to significant corrections in gender balance and participation in major economic sectors and key leadership positions in Nigeria. Currently, the CEOs of three out of the five largest banks in Nigeria are women, among a total of eleven female bank CEOs. The last national administration had seven female Federal ministers, out of which five were of Northern extraction. The Head of the Federal Civil Service was also a woman. The current government has eight female federal ministers. These are notable achievements as just three decades ago, there were only two female bank CEOs, whose banks were not in the top ten rankings, and only two female junior ministers in the Federal Cabinet5

However, Nigeria has grappled with a drastic drop in the quality of its education graduates over the last 60+ years since independence. Sadly, this drop in quality can be traced all the way back to basic education stages where millions of Nigerian children attend unregulated schools with poorly trained teachers, incomplete curriculum, appalling physical learning conditions and poor to no technical learning aids.

Teleschools Digital Education System will close these gaps by enabling the affected children gain access to the quality of education that will give them a leg up in life. They will be able to survive the harsh conditions of their early life with a strong ticket out of poverty. This will mean that fewer of them end up at the bottom of the socio-economic ladder or in criminal professions and will create open skies for more children, especially the most disadvantaged.

1. Businessday.ng, Africa's Powerhouses: 10 largest economies on the continent in 2023; 2. https://www-statista-com.ezproxyberklee.flo.org, 2022;  3. US Census Bureau Report, 2016; 4. https://www.unicef,org, 1 Sept 2022; 5. https:// UNSD, Monitoring Participation of Women in Politics in Nigeria;

Teleschools main impact goal is related to the SDG 4 and specifically to target 4.1: By 2030, ensure that all girls and boys complete free, equitable and quality primary and secondary education leading to relevant and effective learning outcomes. By significantly improving the quality of education content and pedagogy accessible to children in schools, Teleschools will enhance indicator 4.1.2: Completion rate (primary education, lower secondary education, upper secondary education). Also, by significantly reducing the number of out of school children, Teleschools will improve indicator 4.1.1: Proportion of children and young people (a) in grades 2/3; (b) at the end of primary; and (c) at the end of lower secondary achieving at least a minimum proficiency level in (i) reading and (ii) mathematics, by sex

1. Immediate term (1-12 months)
Rapid enrolment of schools into Teleschools digital learning environment, reaching up to 1 million schoolchildren by December 2024. In the same period we will also achieve initial enrolment of at least 250,000 out-of-school children.

2. Mid term (2-5 years)
Phased deployment of Teleschools in Nigerian public schools across at least 30% of States in Nigeria (12 States) to support blended learning across all levels of basic schooling curriculum. We will select 2500 Public schools (about 2 to 2.5 million students) and implement blended learning facilities. This can be financed by State governments or by lease-to-own arrangement with largest banks who already have parents of the students as their customers.
Teleschools will also enrolment of at least 3 million out-of-school children by creating digital schools for them where they can commence formal learning  without having to gather in a single location. Teleschools will also respond to distressed environment or displaced schools and school children due to insurgency, terrorism, conflict and natural disasters.

3. Long term (5+ years)
Expand Teleschools system home deployments to reach 50%+ of Nigerian public schools and 10-15% of low-income private schools to further enhance remote learning readiness. This could reach as many as twenty six million students nationwide. 
Expand enrolment among out-of-school Nigerian children to reach at least 50% or about 10 million children while doing more to respond to distressed environment or displaced schools and school children. By then, the blended mobile aggregation + digital learning schools should have become a national template for use to eventually eliminate completely issue of out-of-school children.

Teleschools delivers pre-recorded  education content to in school and out-of-school children wherever they are and at marginal to no cost depending on the funding structure employed. A single teacher teaching a specific subject relevant to a school year or level can serve hundreds of thousands, or even millions of students in different locations across the country.

Teleschools utilizes Satellite communication technology to provide a much cheaper alternative to Internet based content distribution and delivery. This delivers benefits of digital education to large groups of recipients without the high recurrent cost associated with Broadband Internet access:
Satellite Television technology offers broadcast services in which the same information is transmitted from a single point to multiple recipients.
Satellite bandwidth high costs can be reduced to a minimized cost per user based on aggregation of a significant number of users. It is therefore possible to acquire enough users to make Satellite TV cost per user almost insignificant.

Wide coverage of Satellite footprints means a single point Satellite broadcast is able to cater to large groups of users who are very widely dispersed geographically without major investment in terrestrial infrastructure as is the case with terrestrial TV. Also, the digital receiver equipment or gateway devices for Satellite TV are comparatively cheaper than smart devices used for Internet based learning.

Teleschools also use mobile telecommunication technology to provide the interactive platform for teachers and students at much lower cost than use of Internet access. This will be deployed via mobile Closed User Group service which combines SMS with Voice service delivered to closed teams at heavily discounted rates versus regular network charges.

Electronic tablets with mobile SIM feature will be deployed in the public schools as terminal devices for students to participate in digital learning. They will also be used for the out-of-school children.

I. Operations: 55

Field Sales 10
Team Leads 2
Supervisor 1
Regional Sales 4
District Sales 10
Brand Manager 1
Marketing Assistants 2
Customer Service Agents 4
Technical Support 2

IT Manager 1

Security Personnel 6

Drivers 8
Accounting Officers 2
HR and Adm Officers 2

II. Production: 20

Camera 3
Sound 3
PA 3
Lightman 1
Editor 1
Director 1
Channels 4
Schedulers 4

III. Management: 12

CEO 1
CTO 1
CFO 1
CCO 1
Director of Education 1
Technical Operations 1
Customer Service 1
Sales & Distribution 1
Marketing 1
Legal & Data Protection 1
Finance 1
HR & Admin 1

IV. Contractors 96

Teleschools Digital Education system has been under development since May of 2020 (4 years). Market engagement commenced in October 2023.

Teleschools is an equal opportunity employer. We seek to build a team that will represent the ethnic and cultural diversity of Nigeria while also fielding top performers in different professional roles. We will reflect balance across genders and embrace cultural and geographical diversity to create a non-discriminatory work environment.

Our leadership team of twelve Nigerian professionals consists of two women who lead the Educational services and Customer service functions, among 5 resources already identified. The likelihood is that one or more additional roles will go to strong performing female candidates as we identify suitable resources to fill the balance of leadership team. Further recruitment activity at other levels in the organization will follow our corporate outlook of inclusiveness and promotion of diversity.

The project leader for our largest corporate partner is a female with corporate commercial responsibility for Africa as a territory. Also, the leads for two out of our five top Nigerian bank prospective partners are women who are also accomplished digital services executives.

We will qualify and select contractors based on their capability, competence and their commitment to deliver results. Their gender will not be a basis for advantage or disadvantage at any point during the qualification and selection process.

Beneficiaries: Children of basic education school age unable to afford sustained access to broadband Internet for digital learning. Also children in disconnected locations and those in distressed environments facing interruption or cessation of the schooling.

Service/Type of intervention: High quality Digital Education access for children of basic education school age in urban, rural and disadvantaged or distressed locations.

User Value Proposition: Access to high quality education content and pedagogy via inclusive digital learning system

Customers: Schools, governments, corporate sponsors, donors and humanitarian organisations.

Customer Value Proposition: High quality Education delivered to disadvantaged and displaced children in a cost effective, rapidly deployable and highly scalable model.

Key Stakeholders: Parents, Teachers, School Administrators, Heads of government agencies and public institutions with responsibility for education sector, Humanitarian organisations.

Social Impact: Equitable digital education system that levels out the gaps between urban poor, rural primary and secondary school students and their more socioeconomically endowed counterparts. Crisis response education system that minimises impact of environmental distress on basic education.

Major support requirement: High level (government) endorsement to schools to achieve critical mass enrolment and rapid activation.

Partners: Satellite platform operator, satellite capacity provider, mobile network operator, digital hardware providers as well as corporate financing institutions including banks and other financial institutions.

Key Activities:

1. Recruiting, onboarding and provisioning of schools digitally.

2. Production and editing of Schools curriculum Content.

3. Collaboration with commercial partners to secure advertising orders.

Key Resources: eighty seven personnel covering all functions.

Revenue sources: Government 30%, Sponsors 20%, Advertising: 50%

First year budget: $1.5 million dollars

Cost structure: Capex, Recurrent costs and salaries. Teleschools will generate self-sustaining revenue via relevant third party advertising.

Surplus: Profits will be invested in enhancing services, connecting highly disadvantaged children and rewarding shareholders, investors and staff.

Students will pay for annual license to access Teleschools Digital Library deployed in their schools and for deployment of Satellite receivers/gateway in their homes. Very low income schools and students will be sponsored by government or education sector philantropists and development partners. The rest of the funds for Teleschools operations will be raised through 3rd party advertising on the platform.

US$1 million is required to cover production and satellite broadcast costs in Year 1. Satellite Broadcast partner will subsidise startup costs while the balance will be sourced through advertising revenue from partners offering complementary services on the Teleschools Digital Learning platform or advertising relevant services to the students.

A major project in this area is the Teleschools Flourish initiative which aims to enhance financial literacy among Nigerian schoolchildren as an ethics based approach to address the endemic problem of corruption and financvial mismanagement in the Nigerian private and public sector. This strategic collaboration between Teleschools and financial services sector partners, including leading Nigerian banks, will provide digital financial services to schoolchildren enrolled on Teleschools platform and will also provide trainings, seminars, workshops and projects aimed at enlightening the students about money, wealth creation and true financial prosperity.

Advertisers will be challenged to present their brands and messaging in contexts that educate the schoolchildren about their industry and services andalso engage the children's interest in learning more of subjects related to the products being advertised. The advertisement delivery system is unobtrusive to the academic activity of the students and will be restricted to the non-curricular on-demand section of the Teleschools digital learning platform.