Agami Education Foundation

Mission:
Agami's mission is to create lasting socio-economic change in Bangladesh with education. Through our programs and partners, we create a holistic solution of basic education for underprivileged children, skills training for adults, and public health and economic initiatives for families. 

Vision:
All underprivileged children in Bangladesh will get equal opportunity for quality education to reach their potential and develop lifelong learning goals.

Core Values:

We have established a list of core values that guide our activities in order to fulfill our mission:

• Action group: We measure our success by the positive impact of the activities we undertake.
  • Education: The focus of our group is empowering children through education.
  • We define 'basic' education in terms of fundamental education necessary to become an effective citizen, not in terms of means. We will utilize any effective means and techniques necessary to provide pre-college education as defined by the government of Bangladesh
  • We firmly believe that education is the best vehicle for breaking the cycle of poverty in developing countries. We will partner with other organizations, when and where possible, to provide a holistic solution addressing other critical needs such as health care, nutrition and economic opportunities.
  • We may also choose to engage in local partnerships that align with Agami's vision, mission and core values.
• Secular: We aim to help any underprivileged child, regardless of religion. See Zakat Policy
• Non-political: We do not partner with any political group and/or party of national or international origin.
• Volunteer based: All of our members are volunteers, not paid employees. We may hire non-member staff to help execute our projects and programs.
• Donations: 100% of project donations received are invested in projects and programs benefiting the underprivileged.

B. M. Fazley Rabbi has been working with Agami EdTech since July 2015 and currently serving as the Senior Program Manager and lead the local team for all the external projects with - Khan Academy, Ministry of Education, Unicef, World Bank etc. He is an Education graduate from University of Dhaka and very passionate in this field. Rabbi works closely with the partners and maintain the deliverables. He supervises a 13-member team consisting of Deputy Program Managers, Coordinators and Officers and guides to mobilize the resources efficiently to run multiple projects.

The Team Lead is very much aware of the current tasks, projects and current resources. The whole team is well-connected and supportive to work in multiple projects at a time and to pull out any kind of achievable deliverables within deadlines maintaining quality. 

Moreover, we have been working with Education Technology since long to better the current teaching learning process. And we are very eager to put our learning materials coupled with our knowledge and experience to generate evidence-based impacts on the beneficiaries. This has been a top priority for us which will led us to understand more about our strengths and weaknesses and attempt further scale up. We also want to bring these results to the eye of the government so that the benefits can be distributed across the country. 

This sprint is very much aligned with our work and our focus is also aligned with the predicted outcome of the LEAP Project sprint. So, it will be our priority to dedicate necessary bandwidth for relevant individuals for a smooth sail.

Also, the team is very experienced and the Lead and three Deputy Managers have been working together for more than eight years. So they have a deep understanding about the Education scenario and know how to work and lead the team efficiently during crunching times.  

Learning In Tabs: Where students will use digital learning materials in classrooms, individually or in peers to enhance subject-based competency

Around 38 million students in Bangladesh were negatively affected during the COVID-19 pandemic. Learning poverty arose as a large number of students were outside of any learning because of the school closure. Moreover, the students of Bangladesh lag behind in achieving expected competency and get promoted to the next grade with significant learning gaps.

According to a study on “LEARNING LOSS DUE TO COVID-19 IN PRIMARY EDUCATION IN BANGLADESH” by NCTB, “Learning losses were evident in almost all Grades and subjects, with Grade 5 students suffering the highest learning losses and Grade 2 experiencing the least learning losses.”

“Only small percentages of Grades 4 and 5 students had computers/laptops (4.5% and 4.9% respectively) and radio (6.5% and 6.8% respectively) in the family. Slightly over half of Grade 4 and Grade 5 students lacked internet-connected smartphones, while less than half the students claimed to have a smartphone.” 

“ The average marks obtained by the students who had devices in the home with internet facilities were consistently higher than their counterparts who lacked such devices. Additionally, in Grades 4 and 5, students having laptops or computers with internet access scored at least an average of 13% higher than students without such devices.”

The situation is worse in mathematics. There is no effective mechanism in the traditional teaching-learning process where it can be ensured that every student is achieving the expected competencies. According to the Learning Loss Study Report by NCTB, grade 5 suffers from the highest learning loss. Students do not have a self-learning environment, which is evidently effective in achieving the expected competencies. There is also a gap of quality content. The use of modern technology in the classroom is significantly low. 

Against this backdrop, Agami seeks to address the learning gap of the students of Grade 5 and improve the math competency through an edtech intervention. Learning in Tabs will address these challenges by providing a low-cost comprehensive solution specifically designed for under-resourced communities. 

With Learning in Tabs, students and teachers will be able to use a digital learning platform that they can access by using tabs. The platform contains quality learning content on mathematics - videos, interactive exercises, and articles - that are suitable for both classrooms and individual learning. The same platform is also available online for any learner from anywhere. The contents are localized and aligned with the national curriculum to supplement the regular classroom activities. 

Since Agami has experience of implementing this intervention on a smaller scale, it is evident from the experience that the solution empowers both students and teachers and allows them to incorporate the use of technology and modern teaching-learning practices in classrooms. The students are more eager to learn, have access to better content, and are getting exposure to using technology for learning. Teachers, who usually shy away from using technology, are now comfortable with using tabs, getting training to enhance their pedagogical knowledge, and exploring different teaching methods. 

Learning in Tabs is providing a hybrid learning model where students use tablets in classrooms to access Agami’s learning platform through an open source learning platform, Kolibri, that provides offline access to digital educational content. Agami’s learning platform is a supplemental platform that is available both online and offline. The platform combines an array of content, allowing students to use them for classroom instruction and self-paced learning. The content - video, exercises, and articles - includes localized content of Khan Academy (KA) and locally created content of Khan Academy Bangla (KAB), and videos developed for the Ministry of Education (MOE), Bangladesh as part of its response to the school closure during the pandemic.  

In the offline model, the students use the content individually or in small groups, usually consisting of 2-4 students per group, as part of their regular learning activities in classrooms. The practice is guided by the teachers according to their need to supplement the teaching process and give the students exposure to quality digital learning materials. It also empowers teachers since they can leverage the platform to improve their subject knowledge and quality of teaching.

Moreover, with the growing urge to improve the quality of education and recover the learning losses after the pandemic, there has been an urgent need for openly available and easily accessible learning materials, aligned with the national curriculum (NCTB), that can also be used outside the classroom. The online platform provides a solution for this. Through the online platform, students can learn at their own pace outside the classroom. The exercises are designed in a way that both solidify their learning through practice and provide a system of relearning to cover up any gap that they might have.

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Around 960 students of Bandarban district used Agami’s digital learning platform in tabs in an offline model in the second half of 2022. Though there has not been concrete evidence to show that this method is effective in mitigating learning loss and improving math competencies, the study suggests that this model has the potential to scale up.

On the other hand, innovation has maintained steady growth for the last 15 months. The offline platform was disseminated in 3 schools in 2022, while we have already reached 5 schools in the first quarter of 2023. Now, 600 students are using the offline model. 15 math teachers of both primary and secondary levels received training on pedagogical aspects and modern teaching-learning practices with the use of technology to enhance their proficiency. They are now using this solution in their regular classroom activities and exploring different teaching methods. The contents are being updated to incorporate current needs. We have reached areas with very limited infrastructural support and no internet connectivity, where both students and teachers are now confident in using technology. Overall, a qualitative change in the teaching-learning practices is noticeable. 

The impact can be tracked through Kolibri’s online centralized data tracking tool, Data Portal. The number of individuals using the platform can be measured by a combination of quantitative data that is collected in the Kolibri Learning Platform and synced to the Kolibri Data Portal. Qualitative data regarding the progress of the learners’ are collected through school visits. 

Schools provided with this innovation have seemed to be more motivated to learn math, expressed desire for additional content, and experienced an increased rate of student attendance. Both students and the teachers of the implementation schools are now at more ease of using technology. The teachers particularly have the scope of adopting digital educational contents in class with Kolibri, and are being enabled with improved ability to support differentiated and personalized learning by using Kolibri to meet learner (students) needs at every level. Based on these observations and quantitative data, we would like to meticulously test the impact on reducing the learning loss and improving the competency of grade 5 students. 

The intervention is currently ongoing in 8 schools where the observation indicates positive impacts on the motivation of both the students and teachers and attendance in classes. The insights based on careful observation also indicates an improvement in math teaching-learning practices. 

On the other hand, the evidence from Bandarban, where a larger number of Grade 6 students used tabs in classrooms, showed that the intervention had a lower impact on the performance of the students at the end of an academic year than the MMC model. However, there are significant limits to this understanding and the study suggests that the use of tabs in classrooms showed promising prospects for improving the learning of the students.The study also recommends further exploration of the use of tabs in classrooms.

Therefore, we would like to implement the solution on a larger scale to test the effectiveness of it. We would also like to generate evidence on how the use of digital learning materials in tabs can contribute to recovering the learning gaps of the students and help them achieve their expected math competencies. 

Agami has been a prominent advocate of the usage of digital learning materials in the classroom alongwith enabling students to have access to them through devices. The students are able to easily access quality learning material through both online and offline methods using tabs either  individually or in peers. Around 600 students of grade 3, 4, 5, and 6 are currently using this model in their regular classes. Moreover, the solution was implemented in Bandarban, in collaboration with UNICEF, one of the remotest areas of Bangladesh, where around 960 students from grade 6 were under the same intervention. It was observed during this project that students were being promoted to next grade having significant learning gaps and lack of expected math competencies. The study showed that the solution - using digital learning materials through tabs - has a promising prospect in improving the math competencies of the students.

Therefore, considering the learning gaps among the students of Grade 6, Agami feels the necessity to bring this solution to the students of Grade 5 aiming to minimize the learning gaps and enable a smoother transition to secondary grades.  Agami also seeks to test the effectiveness of using digital learning materials on improving math competencies. Moreover, based on the evidence generated from the implementation data, Agami seeks to explore the possibility of scaling up to impact a larger number of the population. 

Agami has experience of implementing tab-based intervention in schools from different geographical locations and communities. However, to assess the effectiveness of the intervention on reducing the learning loss and improving the math competencies, Agami seeks to answer the following questions based on the outcome of the project: 

Does the use of Kolibri platform for mathematics teaching-learning in classrooms improve math competency of the students?  / How does the utilization of digital learning materials for mathematics instruction in classrooms enhance students' math competency?

Is the incorporation of digital learning materials effective to reduce the learning loss of the grade 5 students? / How effective is the integration of digital learning materials in reducing learning loss among Grade 5 students?

The prime target group for this initiative is the students of Grade 5, especially from the areas and communities that have less or no access to the internet. However, the solution will be available both online and offline, ensuring that the target population have a large degree of access to the platform, depending on their convenience. 

We would like to have impact on the following areas after the intervention, which our primary target: 

1. Improving math competency: After using tabs in classrooms in regular teaching-learning practices, we expect to see an improvement in achieving desired competencies in mathematics. 
2. Recovering learning loss: In the long term, we expect to see a significant improvement in recovering the existing learning loss. 

Apart from the above-mentioned areas, the intervention is likely to have some secondary impacts on both the teachers and students. These outcomes may not be defined as the primary target of the intervention, they align with Agami’s larger goal of making education technology available for all students and improve the overall quality of education. These are: 

1. Increased attendance rate: It is evident from the previous interventions that introducing engaging edtech solutions and incorporating them in regular classrooms have a positive impact on the attendance of the students. Hence, we would like to see how this project impacts the attendance rate of the students. 
2. Increased motivation to learn mathematics: Students generally find mathematics more difficult which sometimes demonstrates low motivation in learning mathematics. We would like to see whether introducing the edtech solution and incorporating digital learning materials can increase the motivation to learn mathematics. 
3. Improved comfort in using technology: Since the incorporation of technology into education has become prominent in recent years, we would like to introduce technology to both students and teachers and make them comfortable in using tech-based solutions. 
4. Improved ability to support differentiated and personalized learning by using the platform to meet learner needs at every level.

The intervention has been made in 8 schools, where around 600 students have been using the digital learning platform through tabs. Since the intervention is ongoing, we will have to wait till the end of this project for the current academic year. However, qualitative insights and observations from field visits indicate that the solution has a positive impact on students' eagerness to learn mathematics and an increased attendance rate. The teachers also have been enabled in assisting students in personalized learning which is conducive to recovering the learning gaps that the students have and improve the learning environment. 

Based on this evidence, we would like to explore the possibility of large scale implementation of the solution. We would like to test if the effectiveness is the same in recovering learning gaps of the primary level students at a larger scale. The further research on the effectiveness of the solution can be particularly useful for our advocacy effort with the government for including the use of digital learning materials in classrooms. 

The short-term and primary outcomes that we wish to achieve are: 

1. Significant improvement in reducing learning losses 
2. Significant improvement in achieving math competencies 
3. A shift in traditional teaching-learning practices and about using technology in classroom 

However, there are some long-term changes that we wish to see after the implementation of the project. These outcomes are not direct result of the intervention alone; rather given considerable time and an opportunity to scale up the intervention, these are the areas where we would like to have an impact:  

• Bridging the digital divide: As much as the need to use technology in education is growing, the digital divide is contributing to the already existing education inequality. Since this model is specifically designed for under-resourced communities, it has the potential to bridge the digital divide by exposing learners to technology.
• Exposure to quality learning materials: The traditional teaching method in Bangladesh has a very limited scope of using modern technology. Most often teachers are not familiar with supporting learning materials that may improve their teaching activities. This model provides a solution to this challenge where both teachers and students get exposure to quality learning materials and can incorporate them into regular classroom activities.  
• Sustainable quality education: The model has the potential to expand the scope of learning and create a sustainable solution to quality education, even in emergency situations. 
• Empowering students and teachers: The model empowers both teachers and students. It creates a classroom environment where students and teachers both can enhance their teaching and learning experiences. Additionally, on one hand, it provides an opportunity for individual learning for learners from anywhere. On the other hand, it enhances the capacity of the teachers and thus makes them more empowered and confident about their teaching approach and capacity.  
• Merging with the global trend of using EdTech: The use of digital platforms and devices will also empower both the teachers and the students and will prepare them for the challenges of 21st-century learning. Since the model applies to schools that do not have sufficient resources or infrastructure and ones with easy access to modern technology, proper scaling up of the model can merge the students of Bangladesh in the global trend of using different edtech solutions.