Contribution:

The purpose of this session is to discuss the current state of digital education technologies in Africa and how they can be leveraged to provide our urban youth population with quality education, prepare them for decent employment and the future of work.

Why would you like to speak in this workshop?:

Seven weeks into 2022, African start-ups raised 1 billion dollars in funding through more than 130 deals. Fintech represented almost half (47%) of the deals, followed closely by retail-tech, health-tech, logistics and transport-tech. Ed-tech start-ups accounted for less than 1% of total funds raised so far in 2022. Similarly, in 2020 funding raised by Ed-tech start-ups dropped off the map. Why does it matter that the Ed-tech sector in Africa is growing at a meagre rate and what is the significance of urbanization in this context?

Africa has the fastest urban growth in the world with a projected urbanization rate of nearly 44 per cent in 2021. While this offers great opportunities in terms of access to better health care services, rapid urbanization also poses enormous social, environmental, infrastructural, and economic challenges. These challenges are particularly significant in African countries evidently lacking access to basic services and infrastructure. One of such areas where lack of access and inequity is prevalent in Africa is the education sector.

Goal 4 of the sustainable development goals are focused on achieving inclusive and quality education for all thus reaffirming the belief that education is one of the most powerful and proven vehicles for sustainable development. However, progress has been slow and insufficient to achieve the education targets in the Goals. According to the United Nations, progress has particularly faced tough challenges in developing and African countries where educational systems struggle to keep up with population growth.