Digital learning summits begins as PS roots for partnership

EdTech East Africa CEO and co-founder, Jennifer Cotter-Otieno. [Standard]

Education technology is an increasingly common discourse worldwide, with conversations focusing on how technology and data can improve teaching and learning.

This follows disruptions to physical learning worldwide at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020; an experience that brought into sharper focus need to expand digitally-enabled teaching and learning.

The Kenya EdTech Summit 2022 brings together public and private sector influencers to discuss how to move Kenya's education technology (EdTech) ecosystem forward towards greater digitally-enabled teaching and learning. It marks the beginning of a journey towards remedying the challenges stifling application of education technologies.

Surveys by different stakeholders in 2020, among them the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development, Uwezo Citizen-Led Assessment, and Policy and Strategy Unit in the Office of the President, established a set of common challenges limiting application of EdTechs in Kenya.

They include lack of digital infrastructure and connectivity; lack of confidence by teachers and pedagogical leaders to support mainstream and special-needs learners with technology; lack of data to inform instruction and decision making; lack of access to or knowledge of safe, relevant digital content; and gaps in inclusion and equity in education for learners across Kenya.

Similar challenges were noted in 2021 during the development of the new Kenyan Policy for ICT in Education and Training.

The EdTech summit is organised by EdTech East Africa in partnership with Mastercard Foundation, Acumen East Africa, Imaginable Futures and EdTech Hub. It is being hosted at the Centre for Mathematics, Science and Technology Education in Africa (CEMESTEA), in Nairobi.

The participants represent diverse stakeholders needed to realise the potential of digital teaching and learning in Kenya and co-design a collective way forward for the country. They include policy makers, entrepreneurs, innovative implementers of EdTech solutions, researchers, private sector donors and investors, development partners, digital infrastructure providers, media, academia, community leaders, and education and EdTech ecosystem builders.

A highlight of the two-day event is the official launch of a common agenda - the EdTech Collective Action Framework - on November 24.