Why learning should never stop

When schools in countries across Africa shut during the pandemic, teachers moved to social messaging apps to share learning materials with parents. But with many parents unable to access digital devices and distance-learning equipment and the training to use it in short supply, a gap quickly emerged, “Many children stayed at home without education for six months, even up to one year,” says Inku, a teacher-trainer in Ethiopia.

The pandemic has exposed gaps in education systems and structures around the world, and perhaps nowhere more so than in Africa. For millions of students, particularly in families where adults and children lack digital skills, education went on hold as in-school classes shut down.

Many children in Africa received no education at all after schools shut down across the continent in spring 2020. Some schools simply didn’t offer distance learning. Others that could offer it, found that students and/or teachers lacked the devices, internet access or skills required for it to be effective.

The digital education gap seems set to widen inequalities that already gape across the continent, as more privileged students continue their learning journey with the depth and breadth of the internet at their disposal, whilst other children struggle with ageing textbooks or no resources at all. “Before Covid-19 we were already thinking ‘how do we deliver our lessons digitally? Will we always use the traditional system?’” recalls Zinabu, a high school English teacher in Ethiopia.

Building a future proof education system

In a project that was first announced in September 2020 and is currently in the delivery stage, the global technology company Huawei is working together with UNESCO and government departments to support online learning and skills-building in three African countries: Egypt, Ethiopia and Ghana.

The project will use technology to help the three nations build resilient, futureproof education systems, creating libraries of digital content, teaching students how to access and use the digital platforms, and training teachers and ICT specialists in delivery.

This new open digital school model can support digital transformation in the education sector, ensuring that teaching and learning remain open and accessible to everyone, everywhere, and safeguarding the right to education for all even if a crisis event occurs.

In Egypt, the focus will be on teachers, with 20 to 40 digital courseware development experts and 1,000 primary and junior high school teachers receiving training under a new K12 ICT skills framework. A National Distance Learning Centre will enable educators nationwide to continue their professional development.

In Ethiopia, training will be provided for 12,000 teachers and students in grades 9 and 10 across 24 schools. The project will first build out technology infrastructure to connect pilot schools and create a learning management system integrated with a teacher training platform.

In Ghana, the focus is on reaching teachers and students in primary schools. Covering 10 schools and 1,300 teachers and students, the project will create digital content for all subjects and build an e-repository where teachers can upload content and which learners can access online and offline, even with no supervision.

While the need for learning and teaching to remain accessible for all students was a harsh lesson taught by the pandemic, the project goes beyond the current situation, and seeks to open a new digital chapter on education equity and quality – whether in times of crisis or not.

Technology should be for everyone

The digital school model is underpinned by the belief that education is a human right for all throughout their lives and that access must be matched by quality.

This project falls under Huawei’s TECH4ALL education umbrella Tech4Education, a global series of projects that aims to narrow the digital divide and drive equity and quality in education around the world.

TECH4ALL aims to fulfil one simple mission: to leave no one behind.

The project will also accelerate progress towards the fourth UN sustainable development goal, the right to a quality education and lifelong learning for all – a goal with which Huawei’s Tech4Education projects are aligned.

“Technology is vital for connecting schools, supporting digital courses in science, technology, engineering and mathematics and training teachers and students in digital skills. And technology can connect and empower individuals and groups at risk of being left behind,” says Kevin Zhang, chief marketing officer for ICT infrastructure at Huawei. “Education must be accessible to everyone, everywhere.”

The company hopes to enable children and young people across the globe to grow and flourish in the new digital world. “We cannot stand by and let the digital divide widen to create haves and have nots,” Zhang says. “And that starts with education.”