Background - Kenyan Primary Education System
The Kenyan primary school education system is an 8 year
program with 6 subjects: Science, Mathematics, Kiswahili, English, Social Sciences
and Religious Studies. At the end of 8 years of Primary schooling, the students
are examined for the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) in a series
of multiple choice exams (and comprehension/composition exams for English and
Kiswahili).
In 2011, there were over 775,000 students that sat the KCPE
exams. Since primary school education was made free in 2003, Kenya has come
close to achieving universal enrollment in primary education. However, it’s time
to shift the emphasis to the quality of education. The core lessons learned
from national education research are clear: Lots of schooling is not the same
is learning. Too many children in Kenya are not learning. A “good” education is considered one of the
best routes out of poverty. However, in Kenya, like most developing countries,
foundational education at Primary level for most is neither good nor interesting
to youths from chronically poor families. This makes it very difcult to break the
cycle of inter-generational poverty.
Where and to whom you are born should not matter in
educational opportunity available to you. Still, children from some districts
do much better than others, children of the better off do much better than the
less well off. As a nation, we are at risk, the very foundations of our
democracies, social development and economic progress jeopardized, unable to
grow equitably and creatively, unable to compete, unable to imagine and craft
different worlds.
Statistics from the Uwezo “Are Our Children Learning? Annual Learning Assessment
Report, Kenya, 2011”
- 80% of students in class 8 are enrolled in extra
tuition
- Children in private schools perform much better
in exams than their counterparts in public schools. Thus, they take the best
and most places in secondary schools
- 40% drop-out rate after standard 8: only 60% of
students are enrolling in secondary school
- High numbers of overage children in all classes,
which may contribute to school dropout
- 10% of standard 8 students cannot solve class 2
mathematics problems
- An acute teacher shortage: At any one time,
there are 4 classes without a teacher in each school
- Shortage of textbooks: Typically, 3 pupils share
a Kiswahili, English and Mathematics textbook
- About one in every ten pupils do not have any
furniture and hence sit on the floor
- Nationally, a teacher is in charge of 52
students (64 in Western Province)
The good news is that we can do something about all this. At
the policy level, focus needs to move away from achieving high test scores
alone to other learning outcomes such as true insight, expertise, proficiency
and generally rekindling in our youth a spirit of inquiry. This paradigm shift
to make learning engaging and interactive is absolutely necessary to facilitate
a change in Kenya’s future outlook.
As institutions committed to education and securing the
future of our youth, we must develop tools that enhance students’ learning
experiences to keep them engaged, active and interested in continuing to learn
and grow.
e-Limu
e-Limu, winner of the Mobile Web East Africa App Developer
Competition 2012, was created with the sole purpose of engaging children in
their education: making learning fun. We believe that creativity should be
central to the education agenda in Kenya. By changing the approach to learning,
the eLimu tablet aims to improve the quality of education and citizenship by
incorporating content correlating to the national curriculum as well as
extended learning content focused on responsible citizenship. Designed to make
an educational as well as a social impact, the utilization of tablet technology
will forge a learning path that is not only dynamic and captivating, but will
empower our youth to embrace new technologies as tools for development. We hope
to nurture a generation of problem solvers and reliable leaders for Kenya, or
at the very least, have developed their cognitive, affective, and critical thinking
skills to elect better leaders.
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| Nivi Mukherjee (left) - Founder e-limu outlines the workings of the tablet to Moran E.A Publishers CEO - Mr. David Muita and General Manager - Mrs. Mary Maina, during the Launch at the iHub. |
e-Limu has partnered and consulted with a large number of
publishers, developers, designers, innovators, government representatives, schools,
teachers, NGOs and educational consultants to create the best instructional
design frameworks and content for our children. With this, eLimu is promoting
access to quality learning opportunities that can equip the youth with
practical skills and useful knowledge to improve the quality not only of their
education, but also their health and their environment. e-Limu can reverse the downward
trends in the quality of education by lling the chronic shortages of learning
tools. This is essential in building the capacities of our youth to better
participate in advancing socio-economic growth and in raising their own quality
of life.
e-Limu Features
- Learning revision content of all 6 KCPE subject
areas: Science, Mathematics, Kiswahili, English, Social Sciences and Religious
Studies
- Topics of education for sustainable development:
environmental conservation, sexual health, community development, jobs &
entrepreneurship, applied science, ICT, conflict resolution, civics and Human
Rights
- 3D animations to help students grasp complex
concepts
- Games to capture their interest and improve
their cognitive thinking, memory and focus
- Songs and pneumonic devices to aid retention
- Quizzes to track progress
- Examination tips and techniques
- Teaching aids to improve the quality of
educators in classrooms: better engage their students in the classroom work
with larger groups, plan lessons, etc.
- Simply designed for children to use
- Internet enabled to facilitate Q&A forums
with well experienced teachers and support collaborative learning
- Security features will disable stolen tablets
and recover progress of students
- Android based software
Expected Outcomes of Usage
v
Improvement in test scores
v
Improved cognitive thinking skills, focus and
memory: creativity, innovation
v
Increased environmental and social
consciousness: empathy, social justice
v
IT Literacy: comfort and familiarity with other
tech tools
Beyond Mechanistic Learning
The e-Limu tablet is designed to engage all 6 essential
layers of learning, from the very first and initial “Remembering” stage,
through to the “Creation” stage.
Remember: Retrieve info, recognize from a list, recall the answer, and
draw on knowledge from long-term memory
Understand: Construct meaning form oral, written and graphic messages
through interpreting, exemplifying, classifying, summarizing, inferring,
comparing, explaining and putting it in their own words
Apply: Carrying
out or using a procedure through executing or implementing, demonstrate that
they can apply it
Analyze: Breaking material into constituent parts, determining
how those parts relate to one another and to an overall structure or purpose
through differentiating, organizing and attributing
Evaluate: Making judgments’ based on criteria
and standards through checking and critiquing
Create: Putting
elements together to form a coherent or functional whole; recognizing elements
in a new pattern or structure through generating, planning or producing
e-Limu’s Business Model
e-Limu is a social enterprise focused on providing an
impactful social service as well as creating a sustainable, portable and
impactful business model. Our strategy
will be based on a strong distribution model that will work closely with various
stakeholders to ensure Kenyans from all walks of life, socio-economic and
ethnic backgrounds can access this technology.
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| A Demo page on the tablet |
The Kenyan and East African mobile, internet and education
markets are steadily growing. This is evident in the increase in the number of
students and mobile/internet users. The increasing, industry-wide dependence on
technology is also fueling the demand for ICT literate, educated employees for
the 21st century. However, the Kenyan & East African market has no innovative,
student-centered, educational technology tools focused on local, culturally
relevant educational content and curriculums, yet.
Stakeholders and Supporters behind e-Limu
- Moran Publishers E.A. Ltd. Top Text-book Publisher
in the Country
- Jacaranda Designs: Award-winning local
children’s magazine
- Software Technologies Ltd.: Largest software
consultancy rm in East Africa
- Khan Academy: Global online education portal
- Vision 2030
- Ministry of Education and Kenya Institute of
Education
- Ministry of Informations, Communication &
Technology
- iHub
- Safaricom (TBC)
- Kenya Wildlife Service and other government
parastatals
Vision for Expansion
1.
Expansion into other markets:
i.
3 Years:
Secondary School (KCSE) content
ii.
5 Years:
Form 1-3 & Standard 1-7 content
iii.
10 Years: East, Central and West Africa
2.
Change revenue model from basic monthly ad space
subscription to pay-per-view (will require further development)
3.
Create custom, local animations
4.
Incorporate interactive animations
5.
Introduce collaborative learning and counseling
features
Conclusion
This educational application will be the first of its kind
in the region. Investors can show a true
dedication to innovation in the Kenyan education and technology space by
providing seed funding and support in order to enable rapid growth of the
business model and encourage partnerships with distributors, educational
institutes and ICT realms.
Together, we can begin to educate an entire generation of
conscientious youth leaders and participants to take their places in the economies
of the 21st century, we can revolutionize the way students approach learning
and examinations. A partnership based on
speed, simplicity and trust with the common goal of improving the education
space of the nation will be beneficial to all stakeholders involved.
Nivi Murkherjee - Founder e-Limu
