Digital Inclusion in remote education

Despite the awareness and efforts of the Government, NGOs and development partners, the number of schools drop outs remained high at around 128,994 for males and 79,111 for females at primary and Junior High School level for the year 2019. (UNESCO Institute of Statistics, 2020). National data collected by the Education Management Information System of the Ministry of Education demonstrate that 7,575 girls in elementary and Senior High Schools have truncated their education due to unplanned pregnancy. This statistic above indicates the need for more sustainable educational projects. These and many more challenges of education can be solved in this season of the pandemic and beyond through Learners Girls Foundation (LGF) Program of Digital inclusion and gender equality in remote education. In the Northern part of Ghana, where the issue is more complex. Here, the social, political and economic challenges are myriad and overlapping. Women and children do not have the financial independence needed to purchase digital technologies (or pay for internet connectivity), and struggle to access public ICT facilities due to limits on their freedom of movement or unsafe roads. But when attention is paid to the right structural factors, change can happen, teaching children how to access content and share information on digital media can open up opportunities for economic and professional growth. Concerted efforts to close the digital gap will help low economic communities in the Northern Regions to meet their commitments to education and gender equality. Alongside gender equality (in gaining digital literacy) as a fundamental human right, learning digital skills will also impact on women’s ability to participate in government and politics, and engage more actively with their communities. There are also a number of economic benefits, from enabling children and women to enter and compete in the labor market and reducing the gender wage gap, to increasing profits, productivity and innovation

is interactive distance-learning project which will uses solar-powered and satellite-enabled distance learning infrastructure with laptops to deliver interactive learning sessions to 500 beneficiaries in total per year, students (70% females, 30% males and teachers) in the in the senior high school level. conducting training clinics across five districts in the Upper East Region and five districts in Northern Region in order to access digital educational content, coding and mentorship on STEM-related fields. The program is to make accessible digital educational content and digital skills training in four Information Technology (IT) courses (Introduction to computer, web design, graphic design and digital marketing) with advocacy for digital upskilling in rural communities. This will be done through practical training clinics in the communities of implementation with online and offline learning; teen focused, web-based learning on making simple landing page, simple business websites, basic java scripts and HTML for a duration of three months in each district. The solution involves a hybrid-learning environment, both online and physical locations, where beneficiaries will be trained and mentored by experts in the field information computer technology specifically, graphic and website designs, coding, computer software and mobile applications development.

The proposed project will be implemented in the Northern Regions of Ghana where the socio-economic activities of the people is small hold farming and petty trading. Most families use their farm produces to cater for their children education. Some cannot even afford to buy learning materials for their children leading them to engage in other social vices such as stealing, drug abuse, prostitution and in some cases early marriage. The Ministry of Education performance report of 2016 indicated a decline in textbooks from 0.4 textbook per pupil in 2010/2011 to 0.2 in 2015/2016. Clearly this does not align with the targeted ratio of one numeracy textbook per child. Recently, the Ministry of Education and Ghana Education Service roll out a new curriculum for basic schools which means more new books will need to be provided to cover this gap. This will have an escalating effect on children’s education in rural communities and deprive families. Books are not the only type of teaching and learning materials in short supply. children in rural communities do not have access to technology and modern ways of learning such as e-learning platforms and e-libraries which will create a wider margin between children in rural areas and that of urban areas in terms of quality education

 When schools reopened, there is a need to address the learning gap created or exacerbated during the shutdown and closure of school due to the covid. Although the Ministry of Education and Ghana Education Service are putting in place substantial distance learning interventions, slower learning progress is expected to happen as a result of the closure of schools and disadvantaged students (including girls, the poorest, those with disabilities, children in rural remote areas, and who lack access to technology) are likely to fall further behind. As such, this proposed project will provide remedial and accelerated learning support for at-risk and poor performing students especially girls as schools remain close. The Learners Girls Foundation piloted a remedial education program with support from African publishing innovation fund . This project will support the rollout of remedial education in an additional enrolment of girls. The women will also be empowered through our volunteer advocacy for inclusive quality education for the female gender

 The organization started at the midst of the Covid19 pandemic 2020, due to the closure of schools and the children finding it difficult to access the various e-learning platforms introduce by the government and Ghana Education Service. With its recent start-up; the organization have however been able win the African publishing innovation fund  with which a library is build with e-learning center for Paga community in the Upper east region, we have  partnered with other organizations such as Edu Spot Ghana to help provide a proportion of reading books to children from deprive families and communities. The organization has also been able to recruit some dedicated volunteers  from implementation communities who are helping in tutoring support for these children with the few logistics at our disposal. The organization has board members; the highest decision making body of the organization. The board also defines policies and expected program outcomes and monitor effectiveness, participate actively in the activities of the organization. We also have the executive director, finance officer Web-Social Media Assistant responsible for social media advocacy and other communications as well as e-library initiative control. The volunteer manager who oversee all volunteer activities and the volunteers who assist in providing tutoring support and mentorship to children. The organization currently is working in partnership with other organizations to help deliver and fulfil its objectives and also have the abilities to manage any financial support provided to them. The team organizes community stakeholder forums in the districts of intended project implementation with the inclusion Ghana educational service and teachers who discuss the problems and the best and sustainable solutions to implement.

In the past, due to lack of policies that support inclusive education, publishers and education stakeholders did not prioritize the development and provision of accessible digital content. The situation is further complicated by longstanding issues that have led to insufficient spending on social infrastructure, like libraries, which could have helped students remain in school due to the covid-19 pandemic. Between urban-rural digital divides and long-standing cracks forced wider by the pandemic, Africa’s sudden transition to remote learning has lead to a lost generation of children who were unable to access education and fell behind. 

We need support with technical support to be able to deliver the digital content both online and offline in these communities with poor network connections with a tracking system.

we also need support to get digital equipements for example , projectors, printers, laptops and gadgets that will help to deliver this program.

The organization also request for a funding support of $30,000 to undertake this project in the underserved districts in Northern Ghana.

The project is an interactive distance-learning project, which will use solar powered  learning infrastructure to deliver interactive learning sessions to students (females) and teachers in the senior high school level. Conducting training clinics across five districts in the Upper East Region and five districts in Northern Region in order to encourage girls from ages 5 to 18 to take up careers in coding and STEM-related fields.

To sustain the project, our of our graduating trainees will in turn train at least five children free of charge in their tech centers and their trainees, who will graduate, will also do same and the cycle continues and this chain will have a multiplier effect. There will be an advocacy on establishing at least one such centers by government in all 216 districts across Ghana. Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), other Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and philanthropists will also be appealed to, to join in our advocacy; this will believe if done will increase the involvement of women in the digital economy of Ghana, which will see the increase in tech related establishments own by young girls women. We will also see the rise in computer soft wares and mobile applications developed by young girls and women. We believe that introducing young girls to technology will help with the development of their critical thinking skills, spirit of teamwork and inspire them to take up careers in technology such as websites and graphic designers, computer software and mobile applications development, amongst others. Subjects like block chain, data science, financial literacy, and cryptocurrency taught in our training curriculum will be a great inspiration to children to contribute their quota to today’s digital economy and  quality  education. By introducing them to these technologies, we will create our future thinkers, creators and developers in the information computer technology field leading to their involvement in the digital economy of Ghana and the world at large. With the necessary support these  children will grow up to own their own tech businesses that will employ people and inspire many other girls to take up careers in the tech area. 

The Methodologies and strategies that will be used to deliver the main outcomes of the project includes;

1 Volunteer recruitment and tutoring support: The project is going to involve volunteer recruitment. Each volunteer will be assigned to five children to always teach and assist them with their school work, give them books titles to read and also ensure the develop reading and studying interest with the help of their parents. The volunteers will as well take the children each week on mentorship topics such as; team work, career guidance, and personal development and leadership skills. The volunteers will also be working with parents or guardians of participants to check their dedication to studies and behaviours. Volunteers will be entitled to stipends to aid their transportation and support other personal needs. They will also provide home base tutoring .

3.3.2 Mentorship and training programs: The proposed project will also involve partnership with other organizations who have expertise in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics to help provide mentorship and improve the innovative skills of girls through the STEM Girls initiative. Girls will be able to discover their interest areas and nurture them through our training sessions and innovative competitions. We will also through this mentorship and training programs provide education for mothers of the girls who participates in our program to help empower them with knowledge on the importance of girl child education and how to support the education of the female gender in this modern world.

3.3.3 Purchase of Educational Materials and other logistics: The proposed project will involve purchase of laptops to help children access e-books and tutorials online and offline . We will also create book shelves to make it a library to store reading books for the children. We will also recruit new children to add to the old ones every year.

3.3.4 Compendium and e-library Initiative: The proposed project will create a compendium of  creative writings, poetry, stories, poems and art works which will be edited by professionals and added to our offline e-library. The content of these compendium will also be share with Ghana Library Authority. The e-library is going to be access offline. It will also contain an e-learning platform for students and volunteer tutoring support modules

Proportion of children and young people: (a) in grades 2/3; (b) at the end of primary; and (c) at the end of lower secondary achieving at least a minimum proficiency level in (i) reading and (ii) mathematics, by sex

Completion rate (primary education, lower secondary education, upper secondary education)  becomes high with good performance

 The project activities will essentially be carried out with partnership from Ghana Education Service, Basic Schools in our target communities, Non Formal Education Unit and Ghana Library Authority. The Ghana Education Service will be supporting us with the new academic curriculum recently introduced into Ghana education system in the compilation of the e-library. The will also provide professional contributions to the implementation of the e-library initiative. Basic Schools will help provide allocation of space and the use of school facilities needed to carry out activities of the project, including those needed for the training for the pupils in rural communities. Ghana Library Authority and Non Formal Education Unit will also support distribute the content of the e-library to other communities as well as make it accessible to other children.

Our The project is an interactive distance-learning project, which will use solar powered  learning infrastructure to deliver interactive learning sessions to students (females) and teachers in the senior high school level. The project all involve a learning management system  and a learning app for e-books, tutorials, puzzles and assignments, Conducting training clinics across five districts in the Upper East Region and five districts in Northern Region in order to encourage girls from ages 5 to 18 to take up careers in coding and STEM-related fields

5. Gender Strategy

5.1. Many young girls in the rural communities cannot further their education or some end up dropping out of school as result of poverty, parental opposition and ignorance of some parents to the importance of inclusive quality education for girls and its impact on the society. Some of the parents do not also enroll girls early enough as a result of household activities; the parents engage the girls to take care of their siblings instead of going to school. These had much effect on girl child education hence leading to teenage pregnancies, school drop outs and social vices. We have plan to implement the volunteer mentorship and tutoring support to help minimize this challenges as well as parents education agenda to enlighten parents on the importance of girl child education. The monitoring approaches we will be using is through our volunteer mentorship reports and girls training and innovation Programs.

5.2. The pandemic has presented further risks of gender inequalities, gender based violence, adolescent pregnancy and early marriages as women and young girls may face greater anticipations to care for children and relatives at home instead of studying and learning. They are also more prone to domestic abuse as a result of closure of schools, irregular access to school, teachers, and other support systems in the community. Rates of gender based violence, especially among girls have increased as schools are closed and change behavior in response to the spread of COVID-19. Women and girls are also vulnerable to other types of gender based violence including physical and sexual exploitation and abuse and sexual harassment. The project activities present a low risk of gender based violence. The proposed project also bridge the gender gaps and disparities in access and learning achievement for boys and girls as more focus is on girls’ education. The proposed project supports key interventions to mitigate these risks such as volunteer mentorship and training on gender, girls’ empowerment, gender based violence prevention, and safeguarding for girls. The implementation of volunteer tutoring support program will promote consciousness and support for girls at increased risk of violence as well as to prevent violence against girls, female volunteers and other vulnerable groups in the rural communities.

8.1. The season is just right to grasp the opportunity of the Ghana Education Service reform of the academic curriculum. This will make it easier for the implementation of the e-library initiative in rural communities which will lead to improving local content, building rural girls capacities and will ensure sustainability to this project since mentorship and tutoring support will be directly on the curricula. Inter-agency collaboration is actively being achieved through engagements and meetings, sharing of experiences which will help in focusing efforts into common goals thus we will partnership and share ideas of the project to others agencies for continuity. Girls who will be beneficiaries of the project will be actively involve as volunteers and ambassadors in the long run to sustaining and promoting the project. The attention of government agencies on e-learning projects in Ghana is another idea to build on. Energies could be turned to achieve cost effectiveness and also to bridge the gap between the rural and urban communities in accessing electronic educational content.

Fundraiser, partnerships, donations and grants

Winners of the African publishing innovation fund 2021

Partners to book aid international from whom we receive  book donations annually

Partners to Ekitabu  Kenya , from whom we receive digital content for our elearning programs