A newly emerging educational experience utilizing affordable, interactive and entirely digital engagement mechanisms has been conceptualized through Afrilearn, Nigeria’s first learn-and-earn app. Although Afrilearn was founded in 2020 by Isaac Oladipupo and Gabriel Olatunji-Legend, the creators recently received support from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Venture Fund, significantly expanding its programming output.

With supplementation through AI, Afrilearn has envisioned a completely personalized academic pathway for students across West Africa, allowing users to navigate lessons across disciplines at the most appropriate pace. The Afrilearn app has amassed more than 7,000 learners, fueling the rapid international growth of education technology companies throughout the last decade.

Accessibility to Education in Nigeria

More than 40% of Nigeria’s population of more than 200 million people cannot read or write, depriving millions throughout the nation of the opportunity to engage in academia thoughtfully. Despite access to physical and academic settings, Oladipupo views current projections of affordable, quality education within Nigeria as an “illusion.” Statistics indicating the number of Nigerian students attending school do not properly reflect the standards of education they are receiving. For example, more than 83% of West African Senior School Certificate Examination candidates cannot fulfill the national educational guidelines and ultimately do not pass.

Oladipupo views Afrilearn as a way of mitigating these educational inequalities, serving as his inspiration for the company. In an interview with Forbes Africa, he emphasized that “every child, no matter their background or location,” should have “full access to quality education and the tools to prepare them for lifelong success,” with Afrilearn serving as a stepping stone for these future academic aspirations.

Developing a World-Renowned Platform

Afrilearn previously consisted of numerous ventures in education technology led by Oladipupo and Olatunji-Legend. They first created ClassNotes.ng in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which provided primary and secondary academic tools when Nigerian students could not attend school in person. ClassNotes.ng achieved widespread success, acquiring more than five million users and teachers since its establishment in 2020.

Later that year, they released Exambly, which democratized access to test preparation materials in West African nations to prepare learners for national and international exams. The Afrilearn app combines the ambitions of these prior applications, pairing animated, engaging lesson plans with sample tests and other types of practice documents. The work of Oladipupo and Olatunji-Legend earned them the Digital Innovation of the Year Award in 2020, dictated by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Engagement Tactics

One of the primary goals of Afrilearn is to tailor its content to the needs of each student, influenced by the relatively large teacher-to-student ratio present within the Nigerian education system. While the teacher-to-student ratio in the U.S. can be estimated at around 1:10, in Nigeria, this is closer to 1:70. Despite the scale of educational materials stored within the Afrilearn app, it attempts to create a sense of connection between its users and the expert tutors that it hosts, blending modes of “social learning and storytelling” to replicate a typical student-teacher relationship.

Most of the options within the platform are free; however, a variety of tools become available for an additional subscription. Some of these include downloadable notes, instant homework help and coding lessons, enhancing the personalization features contained within the app. The revenue generated from subscriptions is re-invested into expanding and improving the free curriculums, corresponding to Afrilearn’s overarching goals of affordability and accessibility.

Education in the Digital Age

Afrilearn showcases an innovative approach to navigating education in the digital age, reimagining modern-day technologies through its teaching potential. For those with the restricted financial capacity to attend and thoughtfully engage in academics, Afrilearn proposes a solution through digital incentivization tailored toward younger generations.

– Eileen Lincoln

Eileen is based in Oakton, VA, USA and focuses on Technology and Solutions for The Borgen Project.

Photo: Flickr