e-Limu. The New Frontier

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.

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.

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

1. Moran Publishers E.A. Ltd. Top Text-book Publisher in the Country
2.  Jacaranda Designs: Award-winning local children’s magazine
3. Software Technologies Ltd.: Largest software consultancy rm in East Africa
4. Khan Academy: Global online education portal
5. Vision 2030
6. Ministry of Education and Kenya Institute of Education
7. Ministry of Informations, Communication & Technology
8. iHub
9. Safaricom (TBC)
10. 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