Teleschool Digital Education System

Teleschools provides a robust, comprehensive and fully inclusive digital distance learning platform that integrates all stakeholders in the education sector, including pupils, parents  teachers, managers and the regulators, to deliver a low cost, interactive education system for public schools and lower income private schools.

 It addresses curriculum, pedagogy, affordability, accessibility and community considerations to deliver high quality education and a level playing field for all students regardless of their socio-economic status. It eliminates the rich/poor digital learning divide by employing versatile and contemporary technologies to deliver high quality digital learning that empowers students for future success.

Teleschools is implemented on a school basis to ensure that schools remain in control of the administration and academic development of their students.

Teleschools is also an intervention for continuing learning during periods of local, regional or national restriction of physical classroom learning and a great complement for blended learning in normal school periods.

Lagos State has about 6.5 million children in primary and secondary schools out of which only about 1 million are catered for by the Lagos State organized public schools service. The other 5.5 million students are served by 17,000 private schools of which only about 5100 are registered and regulated. Roughly only 40% of the children in Lagos State have access to education content and pedagogy regulated and monitored to standards approved by both local and international education authorities.

The Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) database indicates about 23 million students were registered in primary schools in Nigeria in 2014. Applying a 2.6% annual population growth factor brings that figure to about 26 million students as at the end of 2019. Adjusting split of regulated to unregulated schools upwards to 50/50 gives about 13 million primary school students receiving education of a quality undetermined, unregulated and unable to deliver any significant advantage to succeed in life.

For secondary school students, UBEC indicates about 9 million students registered nationwide in 2014. This extrapolates to about 10.2 million students at the end of 2019. Half of this figure, or slightly over 5 million, are secondary school students being tutored in unregulated institutions.

Teleschools utilizes Digital TV broadcast technology to achieve widest possible reach, based on high TV ownership (69.9%) across socio-economic groups and unrestricted reach of satellite broadcast signal across wide geographical areas

It also utilizes Multicast digital TV broadcast which offers massive economies of scale, to reduce cost per student, based on significant enrollment of schools on a State-wide basis, multicast TV fixed total cost per broadcast stream and defined coverage area. This reduces cost of the service proportionately per student as the user base increases.

Teleschools employs Mobile Telephony (Voice and text) to achieve teacher to students and also student to student interactivity to achieve classroom ambience.

It also uses Satellite based content transfer service available on all access equipment to enable teachers disseminate assignments and tutorial material to students.

Teleschools' Advertising revenue based financing meaning there will be no recurrent charges to students after they have acquired access equipment for Teleschools’ service.

Its locally assembled low cost access equipment which costs significantly less (about one third or less) compared to cost of equipment or smart devices required for online learning.

Broadband Internet access provides a leapfrog solution to get quality education across to children living in urban areas where such access technology exists by utilizing different channels based on communication technology accessible to them.

Such online channels can become near-live substitutes for brick and mortar schools when the latter are unable to readmit the students for physical learning either due to their number being inadequate to the population requiring education or where health or security challenges compel authorities to suspend in-classroom teaching.

However challenges faced by majority of these urban students include the high cost of data: currently, only 3 out of 10 households in Nigeria can afford sustained Broadband Internet access for online learning. Other issues are low ownership of computers or terminal digital devices and irregularity of power supply from national power grid.

Use of Satellite TV broadcast for remote learning delivers one way communication medium that does not allow for teacher to student or student to student interaction. However, complementary telecommunication technologies, such as Mobile telecommunication, can be used to provide an interactive platform for teachers and students at much lower cost than use of Internet access.

Digital satellite receivers or Set top boxes require more electrical power compared to mobile devices and laptops. They also do not have stored battery power feature for use in the absence of reliable national or regional grid power supply. In this case also, there are also alternatives that can be applied to mitigate the power situation including solar, inverter and generating set power solutions.

Objective of Satellite TV broadcast intervention is not to create a sustained alternative to Internet based online learning which is undoubtedly the future. Rather, it is to provide a stepwise transition that ensures that no child is left behind.

Teleschools provides high quality teaching personnel and rigorously compiled lesson material developed to suit high income private, international school curriculum standard.

It uses Digital satellite TV signal unencumbered by terrestrial challenges such as topography, architectural and structural obstructions or weakness of terrestrial broadcast signal, especially at the fringes of coverage area. This means each enrolled student will receive subject lessons of comparable video quality and clarity which will enhance their learning experience.

Teleschools system delivers robust education service or full day learning programs of 6-7 hours, covering typical secondary school daily schedule of 7–9 lessons. This will ensure students and teachers cover full curriculum for all levels within standard school term.

Its centrally administered and harmonized quality of curriculum and pedagogy received across all connected public schools and low income private schools will create a level playing field for all urban children to succeed in life regardless of their socioeconomic status and legacy barriers they face to access a better quality of life.

In the last thirty years, Nigeria has gone from a 40:60 urban:rural population split to almost 70:30 population split now. This is due to massive rural to urban migration following the economic boom from its petroleum and resultant loss of interest among youth in rural based occupations such as farming.

This massive migration to urban centres has put facilities and infrastructure in Nigeria's main cities and towns under immense pressure. The existing facilities are unable to cope with the population explosion. Education is one area that has been hard hit by this situation.

Teleschools Digital Education System was piloted in Lagos Nigeria in fourth quarter of 2020 just as the COVID-19 lockdown was being lifted.

A community of students drawn from mainland and Island communities in Lagos, along with their parents, were formed in a virtual 7th grade (JSS1) classroom along with a trained classroom teacher and they received classes via digital satellite broadcast while also interacting his Closed User Group mobile telephony technology.

Post pilot interview with the students, their teacher and their parents revealed a high level of appreciation for what is seen as a much more cost efficient means of delivering digital Education compared to Internet based learning. The parents also applauded the simplicity of the system and the fact that it used existing assets in the home such as the TV.

The children appreciated the high quality lessons and fact that they interact with their teacher in real time.

Teleschools is a major innovative step in the right direction for schools and also for the Ministry of Education in all States (Regions) of Nigeria as digital education is the future and has become an ongoing feature of education delivery even now that the COVID-19 lockdowns are all gone and physical classroom teaching has resumed nationwide. 

Teleschools digital education system utilizes Television, which is mostly engaged as an entertainment and news information channel, to provide schools and Public Education regulators with:

1. A uniform and level learning playing field that elomintarsvthr quality of education gaps between our children from well off segments of our communities and our children from less privileged segments, and this in a self-financing model.

2. Digital registration of all students and perhaps the most comprehensive National and State secondary education database in the history of the country .  This will, in turn, enable more comprehensive administration of education sector on a data-driven basis.

3. Low barrier access to digital learning in preparation for full online engagement when cost of online access and devices fall within reach.

4. Accelerated digital switchover or public digital engagement levels, thereby creating a ready base to receive other innovative digital services that the State may have to offer to its citizenry on an individual or family basis.

Immediate term (1-12 months)

Employ phased deployment of Teleschools digital learning system in all public schools to support blended learning across all levels of secondary school curriculum.

Select 250 Public schools (100,000 students) with most financially capable students and implement full remote learning readiness via deployment in homes of all the students and teachers. This can be financed by State governments or by lease-to-own arrangement with largest banks who already have parents of the students as their customers.

Mid term (1-2 years)

Expand Teleschools system home deployments to reach 50%+ of public schools and 10-15% of low-income private schools to further enhance remote learning readiness. This could reach as many as six million students nationwide.

Long term (3-5 years)

Expand Teleschools system home deployment to reach 100% of public schools and at least 50% of low-income private schools. This could reach as many as twelve million students nationwide.

Showcase States that have achieved at least 75-80% digital services inclusion vs. current 30-40%.

Teleschools primary measure of progress towards its goals will come from government statistics of regulated and unregulated schools. As more schools come into the Tekeschools digital space, they will have access to the kind of pedagogy and curriculum that will give them confidence to appear on the government schedule of schools and the regulators too will be sufficiently pleased with the Content being passed on the students.

Also, performance of the schools at the exit exams will give an indication of performance improvement or otherwise.

Finally, the response of customers to support the Teleschools platform by sponsoring schools and communities will also give good indication of how satisfied the stakeholders are with Teleschools performance and the benefits to their constituency.

8 part time staff, each managing a separate aspect of the operations. Contractors will number in hundreds once we roll out to schools on commercial basis.

Teleschools’ promoters are seasoned professionals and business executives with combined experience of over 150 years, spanning Broadband Telecommunications, Satellite Pay TV, Information Technology, Investment Banking, Project Management, Media Management, Accounting, Financial Analysis, Investment and Asset Management, Insurance, Banking, Fast Moving Consumer Goods, Business Consulting, Film and Television Production & Direction, Cinematography, Youth Development, Education, Career and Life Development, Training, Research and Customer Service. Their experience covers more than twenty countries across Africa, Europe and the Middle East.

 We are an equal opportunity employer and we seek to build a team that will represent the ethnic and cultural diversity of Nigeria while also fielding top performers in different professional roles.

Our leadership team of eight professionals consists of two women who lead the Educational services and Customer service functions. Further recruitment activity will follow our corporate outlook of inclusiveness and promotion of diversity. 

Solve can help Teleschools finetune its proposition so it is immediately attractive to government representatives and to the proprietors of schools.

Solve can also help Teleschools secure funding from organisations interested in supporting development of educational solutions for excluded children

Solve can help Teleschools finetune its proposition so it is immediately attractive to government representatives and to the proprietors of schools.

Solve can also help Teleschools secure funding from organisations interested in supporting development of educational solutions for excluded children

Any individuals or organisations presented by Solve would be of major interest to Teleschools.

Teleschools Digital Education system closes the digital gap between disparate socioeconomic groups and provides  level playing field for all Nigerian child to aspire to a good job, good pay and better quality of life in future.

We would use the funds from the HP prize to connect significantly economically disadvantaged students to the Teleschools platform.