Executive Summery
While in the West, digital solutions like the Khan Academy have been found to remedy the negative impact of epidemics and the unavailability of teachers on education, the multiple digitally-based educational solutions for continuing classes remotely during sanitary crises in Guinea have been relatively unsuccessful. Some education activists, for example, tried to use TV to make courses accessible to students preparing for the 2020 national exams. This approach failed because electricity is scarce, and learning through a TV does not allow interactions nor help measure students’ understanding. Then the government, in collaboration with MTN, put online a learning platform (mboore.com) that hosts videos from youtube and Guinean teachers. Like the TV approach, this internet-based approach failed because the learning platform was poorly designed, and most Guinean students, teachers, and school administrators are foreign to educational technologies. It is essential to indicate that these solutions were only thought of when Covid-19 struck the Guinean education system. Long before, Guinean education was stuck in the 1950s and could not change overnight. Thus, the need for an iterative process for infusing a digital culture within schools and educational centers in Guinea.
After piloting and improving this program from 2017 until now, we have recently launched our educational app, which currently contains the Guinean high school's key math and science courses. Our lessons include simulations, interactions, videos, animations, and virtual learning experiences that give students the impression of being in a laboratory. The Jeune Espoir App allows students to download its content on their phones, study offline and sync their progress with the platform when they return online. The app is available on Play Store. Learners can download it, get a course activation code from us, and start learning in minutes. With the Jeune Espoir app, it's learning, growing, and serving.
Our Program will lessen the negative impact of many factors (epidemics, teacher strikes, violent political protests, early marriage, and the lack of teachers) on the Guinean education system. Impacted learners will: 1) master their school curriculum; and 2) learn to use educational technologies and apply coursework to innovate and become life-long self-learners.
