KwaraLEARN’s transformative approach featured at Education World Forum 2023

KwaraLEARN’s, a leading education achievement and refom transformative approach in Kwara State, was featured at the Education World Forum 2023 held in London.

The Education World Forum 2023, the largest annual gathering of education ministers from across the globe, took place from May 7 to 10 in London, with the theme “New Beginnings: Nurturing Learning Culture, Building Resilience, Promoting Sustainability. Stronger, Bolder, Better Education by Design.”

This year’s forum explored innovative ways to build stronger, bolder and better education systems that meet the needs of today’s learners and prepare them for the challenges of the future.

The forum brought together policymakers, educators, industry and thought leaders who shared best practices, discuss emerging trends, and collaborated on strategies to transform education for the 21st century.

Among the notable presentations was the KwaraLEARN’s, which offered a fresh perspective on revolutionising the learning experience in Kwara state.

The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Education and Human Capital Development, Kwara State, Mrs Mary Adeoshun, shed light on the remarkable strides being made by KwaraLEARN, the basic education reform programme spearheaded by the State Governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq-led administration.

Speaking on the sidelines of the forum, Adeoshun highlighted the systematic improvements in the quality of education being witnessed across public primary schools in the state.

She said, through KwaraLEARN, the state government has undertaken a transformative approach to enhance the educational experience, ensuring that students receive a well rounded and empowering education that prepares them for a successful future.

According to her, the programme’s innovative initiatives and commitment to excellence have garnered attention and admiration, making it a shining example of effective educational reform on a global stage.

“One of the key benefits of KwaraLEARN is the ability to promote equity in education by providing access to the same high-quality resources and curriculum across all public primary schools in Kwara State, the programme is helping to level the playing field and ensure that every child counts and has the opportunity to succeed,” Adeoshun said.

She further added that through the programmme’s transformative approach to education, the state government is actively addressing the disparities that exist within the education system.

She said it has empowered over 120,000 pupils with the skills and knowledge they need to thrive in an ever-evolving world.

“KwaraLEARN, which will officially celebrate its first anniversary on May 16, 2023, stands as a data-driven educational technology solution. The programme has successfully onboarded over 6,000 government teachers across the 873 KwaraLEARN schools in 10 out of 16 Local Government Areas of Kwara State, with plans to expand to the remaining six LGAs soon.

“Each KwaraLEARN teacher is equipped with a handheld tablet, specially loaded with meticulously crafted lesson guides aligned with the national curriculum. These guides incorporate proven and refined teaching techniques that maximise learning outcomes. Beyond empowering individual teachers, the tablets also serve as a rich source of data.

” They capture valuable information such as teacher and pupil attendance and lesson completion rates, providing basic education stakeholders like the Ministry of Education and Kwara State Universal Basic Education Board with real-time insights into every classroom.

“This comprehensive data-driven approach ensures that decision-makers can closely monitor and evaluate the educational landscape at all levels, promoting effective interventions, and ultimately fostering a culture of continuous improvement,” she explained.

The Executive Chairman of Kwara State Universal Basic Education Board, Prof. Raheem Adaramaja Shehu, said with the advent of the programmme, the state has witnessed significant improvements in teacher attendance and punctuality, pupil enrolment, content delivery and social development.

He said schools in the state have become a source of great pride at both the state, national and international levels.

Shehu said this success is attributed to the unwavering support and contributions of the state governor, who has demonstrated a strong commitment to reforming education in Kwara State.

The chairman said the first 12 months of the programme’s operations and learning rates for literacy measured three times faster, and in numeracy two times faster, than schools that were not in the KwaraLEARN programme.

“These impressive results are backed by the findings by 2019 Nobel Prize-winning economist, Professor Michael Kremer’s groundbreaking study in Kenya, which found that the same methodology used in KwaraLEARN delivered learning two times more in numeracy and three times more in literacy than traditional methods of teaching. The study is among the greatest of any rigorously studied intervention in Africa/Emerging Markets,” he added.