The Mastercard Foundation Regional Centre for Innovative Teaching and Learning in ICT is inviting edtech start-ups from across Africa to submit solutions aimed at improving access to quality education.
According to the Mastercard Foundation, the centre was established to spark innovation and promote promising practices in the use of ICT in teaching and learning, and thereby catalyse significant improvement in access, quality and relevance of education.
One of the objectives of the centre is to identify demand-driven edtech innovations that close the gap in education and learning outcomes for the most disadvantaged students, in line with the Mastercard Foundation’s Young Africa Works strategy.
In August, the centre convened a ministerial forum which brought together ministers of education, edtech entrepreneurs, the private sector, donors and other education stakeholders from across the continent. The objective of the meeting was to converge on key challenges that face education systems in Africa that ICT can effectively address.
The event resulted in the request for proposals call for African edtech entrepreneurs to propose innovative solutions for two of the challenges that were identified at the ministerial forum: “Enhance and increase accessibility and affordability of professional development for in-service school teachers; and secondly, to create and deliver enriched learning content that improves quality, relevance and accessibility to both in-school and out-of school secondary school learners,” according to the centre.
Application requirements:
- Applicants must lead a registered company that is now post-product with the potential to scale.
- The applicant’s company must be majority African led and/or owned.
- A for-profit or non-for-profit operating model must be in place.
- The applicant’s company must be already operating in, or interested in moving into, the education market in Africa.
- The applicant’s product specifically addresses the professional development of teachers, and/or the need for enriched and accessible learning content for learners.
“Education systems in Africa face a myriad of challenges that negatively impact education outcomes. Most Cameroonian and South African schools have not adapted their curriculum post-colonialism,” notes the centre.
“This speaks to a lack of accuracy and relevance that is pervasive across the continent’s education systems. In addition, delays and bottlenecks in the allocation of resources like salaries, allowances, financing and materials have been identified as serious problems affecting quality of services and morale of teachers in most countries in Africa.”
In addition to a completed online application form, applicants are required to submit a full proposal if selected to move on to the second phase of the process.
The closing date for applications is 21 November.
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