Consolee had an educational experience many refugees can identify with overcrowded classes, few materials, and unqualified teachers. That was in the early 2000s and little has changed. Today, she notes, that strained experience could be different if EdTech was used to facilitate learning in refugee camps and their host communities.
Accessing education was a challenge for a young refugee from Rwanda who understood nothing about Kenya’s culture or languages,
Recalls Muvunyi. “Learning materials were not enough, and there were too few teachers. It was common to have one teacher for a class of 200 children. I could barely recount what I had learnt in class to my parents back home.”
Like millions of refugees and displaced people face the same educational challenges when they flee their countries of origin which include tackling the cultural and language barriers within refugee settlements and adapting to education systems in their countries of refuge.
Four countries in the Horn of Africa - Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, and Sudan - account for 10 percent of the global number of refugees. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, East Africa and the Great Lakes region also account for 12 million internally displaced persons.
Many refugee camps on the continent are located within marginalized regions that lack learning resources, skilled instructors and infrastructure such as electricity and optic cables to support digital knowledge and literacy. As experience illustrates, cultural and language barriers add to the challenges that make it a struggle for displaced learners to access education fully.
With displacement scenarios being so varied and unstable, the June edition of EdTech Mondays Africa sought to explore whether EdTech solutions are appropriate for displaced persons and their host communities. If so, how do we ensure the benefits of EdTech are accessible and equitable? How can EdTech content be tailored to suit the vast cultural and linguistic field within the refugee and displaced communities?
Africa is home to nearly one-third of the world’s refugees and displaced populations, with a significant number being young women. The Mastercard Foundation is working to unlock the full economic potential of the continent’s young people. Through its Young Africa Works strategy, the Mastercard Foundation seeks to enable 30 million young people, including 2.5 million refugees and displaced persons (RDPs), to access dignified and fulfilling work by 2030.
For this to happen, young people’s access to dignified and fulfilling work must be improved. One way to do this is to harness the talents of diverse young people and make education accessible to all, including refugees and displaced persons.
Through its Centre for Innovative Teaching and Learning, the Foundation has supported EdTech companies through the Mastercard Foundation EdTech Fellowship program to drive inclusive access to education that underserved learners can benefit equally.
M-Shule, for example, was part of the 2020 Mastercard Foundation EdTech Fellowship. It is an EdTech solution that aims to reach and serve people with little or poor digital connectivity or digital literacy. The platform develops and disseminates phone-based micro-courses on business, financial literacy, and entrepreneurship to young and adult refugees in Kakuma and Daadab refugee settlements in Kenya.
M-Shule uses artificial intelligence to support the teaching of new skills to urban refugees and host communities. It translates most of the content into languages of instruction that the participants or consumers of its content would best grasp knowledge.
Albina Mumbi, M-Shule’s Project Manager, says some teaching instructors in refugee settlements may not understand the learners’ first language of instruction from different countries of origin. In underserved multilingual communities, the educators’ impact is felt more when alternative teaching methods such as visual aids, translators, or digital assistants are used.
“We sat down with our partners to understand the needs,” Mumbi says. “To move past the language barrier, we tailor-make the curriculum for specific learners including Turkana and Somali-speaking children in northern and eastern Kenya with little exposure to formal education. We also use simplified language to create content that resonates with their environment.”
Mumbi says creating EdTech solutions from the standpoint of refugee learners makes them feel included and better equipped to compete with their peers on the continent.
According to Olivier Nkunzurwanda, Chief Executive Officer at the Refugee Innovation Centre (RIC) in Uganda, most refugees flee their home countries abruptly, leaving behind important documents, “only taking with them the little education they received and their dreams.” Since 2016, RIC has provided refugees with access to digital technology and social entrepreneurship workshops in Rwamwanja Refugee Settlement, one of the country’s largest refugee settlements.
“War does not prepare anyone for life as a displaced person or refugee. Young learners including children have the uphill task of learning the culture or language of the host community to access education. Furthermore, without the requisite documents, placing the learner in the right school grade in the new environment becomes difficult,” explains Olivier.
In the same breath, World University Service of Canada (WUSC)’s Richard Ombina, who coordinates the organization’s Digital Hub and Scholarships, reiterates that lack of personal documents means a refugee learner has no proof of the level of education attained in the home country. Without documents, refugees are not part of government capitation programs and would have to pay the total cost of education, but with scholarships, we can enroll more refugees in schools and even support them to open bank accounts in places like Kakuma.
Jesuit Worldwide Learning (JWL), an organization that aims to provide high-quality tertiary education to marginalized groups, including refugees, allows participants to download and consume learning material offline. In Kenya, the organization works in the Kakuma refugee settlement. Learners like Consolee now have hope through these modern educational resources to rebuild their lives and continue their education journey, setting them on a path to a more fulfilling future.
Education is a human right that cannot be denied. During the height of COVID-19 when remote learning gained popularity, JWL incorporated teacher training elements in the system. About 120 teachers proficient in English were trained to work within displaced communities,
Through partnerships, the Mastercard Foundation supports organizations such as WUSC that engage host country communities in assessing the market and developing new ideas for needed skills.
Inclusive education, supported by affordable technology tools, enables learners in hard-to-reach and under-resourced communities to access learning and, in the long term, gives them an equal platform to transform their lives and those in their communities.
