Personalized Learning in Africa

In 1999 Enugu State (Nigeria) instituted a Universal Basic Education (UBE). Currently, approximately 48% of students ages 4-14 don’t complete this basic education (grade 9). Approximately 47% are engaged in some type of labor while attending school.  Students who attend school are performing 2-3 grade levels below Nigerian education standards. Those with disabilities are even less likely to succeed in school. Currently there are over just over 3 million residents in Enugu State. Demographically children ages 4-14 account for over 60% of that population.

Economically Enugu has invested in solar power, natural gas, and iron and steel manufacturing. Unfortunately, students who do graduate from the UBE lack the basic numeracy and literacy skills to find employment in those industries let alone continue to vocational school or university. Enugu State is facing an unemployment rate of 26.8% for their young people resulting in them becoming more and more reliant on an already burdened state government.

Our solution is to create a personalized education path for each student, regardless of abilities (both physical and neurological), that incorporates AI, remediation through technology, experiential learning, and teacher professional development. While all of these are not earth shattering, combining them will empower teachers and parents to create learning environments that are stimulating, culturally responsive, economically impactful, and psychologically transformational for the youth of Enugu State.

The solution is to combine the Enugu UBE learning objectives with the UN SDGs and the principles of experiential learning to create a curriculum and accompanying lesson plans that scaffold student learning through to completion of secondary education. Assessment of student learning will be a continuous process that employs targeted remediation to ensure each student has the opportunity to succeed in the education setting.

Using Artificial Intelligence, the state has partnered with a Nigerian LMS company, EdVes, to map the UBE, UN SDGs, and principles of experiential learning to create a primary to secondary learning path that has the potential to transform student learning and success. The UN SDGs will be used throughout the curriculum to ensure students are responsible stewards of Enugu’s natural resources while experiential learning opportunities and mindset will equip them with the skills necessary to either engage in entrepreneurial endeavors or attain gainful employment.

The goal of this program is to bring along all students, regardless of abilities (physical and neurodiverse). One of the most important components of this solution is closing the learning gap. So many children in Enugu state have had learning disruptions due to familial economic hardships, gender inequity, or disabilities. To level the learning environment many students in each grade will need remediation. The scale necessary to ensure all students graduate each grade level with the same set of competencies is impossible for teachers to handle alone. Using technology such as online assessments, gamification, and smartboards will allow teachers to create stimulating learning environments that are also personalized to each student.

Teachers will be the biggest asset of our solution. Therefore, they will need continuous professional development to increase their capacity to effectively employ these technologies and coach students through the UBE. They’ll receive yearly online and in-person workshops covering digital literacy, education technologies, creating plans for disabled students, using the UN SDGs in teaching, and creating experiential learning opportunities. The 260 new Smart Green schools being built will be equipped with high speed WiFi using Star Link, 40 seat classrooms, two computer labs, a library with both a physical and digital collection (using offline software Kolibri), STEM labs, and sustainable technologies for electricity and water throughout the building.

The target population are the approximately 250,000 children ages 4-14 in Enugu state who will be the beneficiaries of these Smart Green Schools and professionally trained teachers. Currently, they are receiving inadequate and inconsistent education partly due to poor teacher training and economic pressures on families. The solution, to provide personalized learning through experiential learning and technology, will create a culture of academic rigor and relevance. As parents and guardians see students excited to attend school, thriving in their schooling, and gaining practical hands-on learning experiences they’ll be more inclined to view school attendance in a favorable light.

Dr. Ndubueze Mbah is the current Commissioner for Education. He has assembled a team of experts from around the globe to address the issues of low academic performance and economic skills development in the state education system. He has embraced the use of technology and AI to close the skills gap for all students. His team includes a global expert on experiential learning, Dr. Mara Huber, two experts on education technology, Cynthia Tysick and Dr. Chy Onyesi, an educational services director to address students with disabilities, a digital libraries specialist, and a team of computer technologists to ensure all components of this system work as designed. All but two of the team members are local to Enugu State, assuring the best interest of the local children in regards to their educational success.

Currently Enugu district has built one Smart School and has trained 25 specialized teachers. The teachers now know how to use innovative technologies like AI, Robotics, eTextbooks, learning interactives, and Smartboards. They are also trained in how to create their own media and interactives for diversified and personalized instruction. We are at the stage now where we have the proof of concept, we now need to incorporate personalized and differentiated learning into the pilot school toolkit. Once the school has used these tools for a year, assessment at the program level will be conducted and revised to scale to over 260 new Smart Schools across Enugu state to reach a target population of 250,000 children.

While the team needs funds to allow for the continuous assessment and remediation necessary through education platforms like iXL, they also need mentors or partners to engage in the experiential learning component. Enugu is not sold on any one way to assess and engage students in learning so partners who can provide access to such tools, in potentially a pilot phase are welcome. What we would really like to see are global entrepreneurs and investors willing to help our teachers build out the experiential learning curriculum with real-world local examples. The state of Enugu has rich natural resources, how can those be harnessed to create economic opportunities for our young people? How can those opportunities be woven into the primary and secondary education system? Lastly, what technologies exist that Enugu has missed? While we are looking to employ offline tools like Kolibri for our digital library and professional training we are open to other tools and platforms. Again, there could be a group or company out there looking to pilot small scale to start and then expand to the entire school system.

Our solution looks to use experiential learning from kindergarten up to secondary education. We will be employing education technology, digital literacy, and offline learning opportunities throughout the curriculum. By partnering with local and global entities we are able to actualize student learning into tangible products and desirable economic skills. We are hoping to graduate a generation of entrepreneurs and college-ready students. The fact that this program will be scaled to 250,000 young people ages 4-14 is an incredible opportunity for investors, mentors, and partners to collaborate with us to truly transform education not only for Nigerian children but potentially for children across Africa. 

Students will complete a personalized education program regardless of ability that will allow them to be gainfully employed, move on to vocational training, or continue to college/university. As a result the state of Enugu creates a thriving economy for all its citizens.

Currently we are focusing on our first smart green school of 960 students. We're collecting baseline skills data on each student and at the half year mark we are reassessing them to determine where remediation is needed and create a plan. Unfortunately, this is manually being conducted and is labor intensive. The plans being created are done solely by each grade level teacher. The first impact goals is to automate the assessment and learning plan process using AI and online platforms like iXL or Clever. These types of platforms have the added benefit of allowing parents to engage with the teacher and their children's learning through smartphone apps. The second impact goal is to bring 90% of all students to grade level by the end of a two year cycle. As stated previously, many students are 2-3 grades behind. Employing these personalized technologies along with teacher training is anticipated to bring students to grade-level competency in two years.

Our solution is employing AI to map the UN SDGs, principles of experiential learning and the Enugu University Basic Education learning outcomes to create a curriculum for each grade level. Alongside this we are creating smart green schools and investing in the training of our teachers on innovative technologies to assess students' skills, provide gamified remediation, and ensure students apply what they learn in the classroom in a real-world setting at every grade. We are combining all of this with offline learning through Kolibri that will allow children to read and practice without WiFi on smart devices like family phones. 

Our team consists of 30 smart green school pilo teachers, two ICT staff, and one digital librarian. This team provides feedback on the curriculum and professional training during the first two years.

Our administrative staff is as follows.

In addition we have two special advisors. One for education technology and digital literacy and another for experiential learning. 

We have been working on our solution for three years. This includes designing the smart green school and creating the new curriculum.

We have recruited teachers and staff who are passionate about education and dedicated to improving the outcomes for Nigerian youth. We do not screen by gender nor age. We've recruited through universities, social media, and media outlets for the most talented teachers and visionaries in education across Nigeria. Outside consultants have come from within Nigeria whenever possible and women have been encouraged at all levels of the program. More than 50% of our staff and administrators identify as female.

We're a school district so we don't have a business model per se. We do have a budget. 

Central to the mission of the Enugu State Ministry of Education is the strategic initiative to increase funding for education in the state. Recognizing the pivotal role that financial resources play in the effective functioning of educational institutions, the ministry actively engages in advocacy and policy measures aimed at augmenting financial allocations.

The commitment to increased funding is not merely a fiscal endeavor; it is an investment in the future of Enugu State. Adequate financial resources empower schools to address the diverse needs of students, enhance infrastructure, and provide educators with the tools necessary for delivering a quality education. In this context, financial advocacy emerges as a cornerstone in the broader strategy to fortify the educational foundations of the state.

The Ministry of Education, Enugu, recognizes that sound financial management is crucial for the effective delivery of quality education services in the state. This page provides an overview of our financial practices, budget allocation, and our commitment to ensuring that educational resources are used responsibly and efficiently.

Again, our funds from the state of Enugu's annual budget.