EducatorsEvolve

Education in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs), particularly in rural areas, where over 60% of the population resides, faces numerous challenges that hinder access to quality education. In Ghana, some of these challenges include:

Shortage of qualified and trained teachers, according to the Ghana Education Service, the country faced a deficit of over 40,000 trained teachers in 2019, with rural areas being the most affected. This leads to large class sizes, limited individual attention for students, and lower educational quality.

In addition, the lack of digital literacy skills and effective integration of technology into teacher training affects teaching and learning. The Ghana Statistical Service reported that in 2017, only about 35% of primary school teachers in Ghana had received training in the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) for teaching.

Furthermore, according to the World Bank, in 2018, only about 40% of individuals in Ghana had access to the internet, with rural areas experiencing lower connectivity rates. This limits access to online resources: digital textbooks, online courses, and educational videos and teachers and students are unable to benefit from these resources.

The Chalkboard Education mobile app is an innovative solution that is shaping the future of education in LMICs by bridging the gap for those who lack access to traditional schooling or advanced technology.

We address the shortage of qualified teachers, improve digital literacy skills among educators, and increase access to technology and internet connectivity by delivering Teacher Training and Capacity Building programs.

We collaborate with NGOs and development partners to design and execute detailed training programs for over 10,000 teachers. These programs aim to improve their pedagogical skills, content knowledge, and digital literacy. Our focus is on customising the training to meet the specific needs and challenges faced by teachers in rural areas. Additionally, we provide training on effectively integrating low-cost technology into their teaching methods.

In addition, we provide teachers and students with access to digital learning resources, such as online textbooks, educational videos, and interactive learning platforms.

To ensure seamless and uninterrupted programs, we have developed the following features:

Accessibility on different mobile devices, making it convenient for teachers to access educational materials anytime, anywhere, even in areas with limited internet connectivity.

In addition, we support a wide range of educational content, which includes interactive lessons, quizzes, videos, and e-books across different subjects and grade levels. This content is curated by our pedagogical designers and subject matter experts, ensuring its relevance and quality.

We provide and encourage offline access, which allows users to download content for offline viewing and completion. This feature ensures that learning is not disrupted, even in remote locations or financial constraints.

Administrators create and manage classes, monitor teachers' progress, and deliver assignments and assessments via our admin dashboard.

Furthermore, the dashboard visualises data on teacher performance and engagement, providing valuable insights for educators to identify areas for improvement and track overall progress. This data-driven approach enables targeted interventions to support teacher success.

To cater to diverse populations, the app also offers multilingual support, allowing users to access content in their preferred language. This inclusivity enhances accessibility and promotes learning among linguistically diverse communities.

Finally, Chalkboard Education fosters a sense of community among users through features such as discussion forums. These features enrich the learning experience by encouraging knowledge-sharing and collaboration among users.

Over 10,000 educators, aged 18 - 55 and living pay cheque to pay cheque, are dedicated to improving learning outcomes in their communities despite their limited training, poor internet connectivity and lack of resources.

Chalkboard Education and its partners support their determination by providing continuous professional development resources and training modules for teachers, allowing them to improve their skills and stay updated on best practices in education., and access to the latest educational resources within their budget. 

In addition, we ensure that the teachers have access to a wide range of educational content, including lesson plans, teaching resources, and multimedia materials. This helps to supplement limited resources in rural schools and ensures that teachers have the tools they need to deliver engaging lessons.

Furthermore, our training programs allow teachers to download educational materials and resources for use in areas with limited internet connectivity. This ensures that teaching and learning continue even without a reliable internet connection.

The data we collect on performance and engagement provides education stakeholders with insights that can help them identify areas for improvement and tailor the programs to meet the needs of the teachers.

Our team is composed of a diverse group of experts, including highly skilled software developers, experienced pedagogical designers, and efficient project managers, as well as NGOs and Development partners. 70% of the team is based in Ghana and has a deep understanding of the challenges and needs faced by teachers in the classroom. Our unique collaborative and agile approach enables us to create customized solutions that meet their specific requirements.

To achieve this, our project managers and partners engage with teachers and school administrators, using surveys, interviews, and workshops to gain a comprehensive understanding of their needs, preferences, and challenges.

Our software team then utilises the latest technologies and best practices to develop a robust and scalable platform that meets the requirements of teachers and partners.

To ensure that the application remains aligned with the community's needs and expectations, we go through feedback loops with focus groups, taking into account their opinions and suggestions. This helps us to refine the solution and ensure that it meets the highest standards of quality.

Before rolling out the solution, we conduct pilot tests in select schools within the community. This allows for real-world testing and refinement of the solution based on actual usage and feedback from teachers and students, ensuring that the final product is both functional and user-friendly.

We have a mobile app and a dashboard that serves over 10,000 teachers in 13 countries in 3 continents.

We have completed a seed investment funding round and have been profitable since 2020. We have recurring revenue and continue to grow in terms of impact and finances.

We are looking forward to receiving leadership coaching, capacity building for the team, support with MEL, expanding our network, and visibility that will lead to investment, more sales, partnerships and impact in Low and Middle Income Countries.

Our unique approach focuses on teachers are drivers of quality education and co-creating a tool for them to receive this continuous professional development even without the internet and without them having to travel out of their communities.

We want to improve the quality of education on low and middle-income countries by providing teacher training programs to 100,000 teachers by 2030.

We want to achieve this by leveraging tools already in their possession, mobile phones, and rolling out continuous development programs that bridge the equality gap in education and digital skills. 

As a result we want to see FLN scores improve by 2030.

We look forward to training 100,000 teachers by 2030 and increasing the supply of qualified teachers.

JS

Typescript

React

Python

Laravel

Flutter(dart)

Database:

SQL, Firebase

API: 

Rest API and GraphQL

Cloud services:

Google cloud run, cloud storage, scheduler, logging

9

8 years

Our recruitment policy focuses more on a gets-the-job-done attitude. We recruit even first-year university students who have displayed a willingness to learn and problem-solve. 

We do not discriminate.  Our policies, practices, and resources are designed to enable people of all backgrounds a genuine opportunity to thrive.

Our clients are iNGOs and companies who pay to roll out their programs in rural communities.

We also partner with development partners on a contractual basis who roll out these trainings free of charge to the teachers. 

1. Improve selling and scaling: refine our sales process to ensure that we can acquire new clients faster. Encourage the clients scale their programs year on year.

2. Raise funds from multi-year, catalytic grants from iNGOs and foundations 3. Secure 30% of revenue from contract-based work with development partners