Estonia’s President launches partnership for the digital transformation of education in Kenya

The rapid adoption of the technology over the past 18 months has transformed manufacturing and service delivery around the world. In the education sector, integrating technology into learning drives student interest in learning, teacher-student collaboration, and prepares learners for the digital future. It also allows them to continue their education seamlessly whether they can attend school in person or remotely. Recognizing the increasing prevalence of e-learning and the need for digital learning materials, the Kenya Literature Bureau (KLB), Star cloud GMBH Estonia, Africa Renovation Risk; UNICEF and Liquid Intelligent Technologies (www.Liquid.Tech) have teamed up to digitize books and make them available to learners in schools.

As a result of this partnership and in recognition of the cooperation initiative between Star Cloud, an Estonian educational technology company, Risk Africa Innovatis with local publishers under the leadership of the Kenya Literation Bureau, the Opiq platform was launched by Her Excellency Kersti Kaljulaid, President of the Republic of Estonia on Friday, May 10th September 2021. UNICEF and Liquid Intelligent Technologies are working to map and connect high-speed internet to schools to increase the reach of digital technology in Kenya.

At the event, the President of Estonia reiterated her commitment to support ICT in education in Kenya to provide all learners with access to learning and teaching materials (LTMs).

“Estonia is a relatively young nation, but we focused on building a country where every generation should grow digitally. To achieve this goal, a high literacy rate is crucial. Therefore, we have built highly qualified national teachers and created a learning environment that supports the achievement of high quality learning outcomes for all children. With the introduction of the Opic platform, one of an Estonian ICT start-up – Star Cloud, Kenya, is now working on digitizing the school curriculum. This will give both teachers and students access to online education and the opportunity to create an egalitarian school system, ”said President Kersti Kaljulaid.

Antti Rammo, the CEO from StarCloud GMBH Estonia said he is very excited about the aims of the partnership it is with KLB and the interest the Opiq platform has generated in Kenya.

“Digitized study materials will greatly improve the availability of quality study literature and education in general, including creating opportunities for distance learning,” said Rammo, adding that broadband internet access is a key component in providing learners with access to interactive digital content on Opiq -Platform.

Stressing the importance of working with Kenyan publishers, he said Opiq is a universal digital platform, but the curriculum is country-specific.

Victor Lomaria, Managing Director of the Kenya Literature Bureau, expressed his appreciation for the commitment and highlighted the quality and speed of the conversion of books in ePub3. HLML5 and interactive digital content formats.

“Support KLB obtained from the consortium of StarCloud GMBH Estonia and Risk Africa Innovatis Limited in the development of interactive digital content for the competency-based curriculum for grades 7 (7) and 5thCBC) Learning and Teaching Materials (LTMs) demonstrate their technical expertise and dedication to ensuring that learners have access to quality online materials for academic excellence. It also adds value to Kenya’s Digital Literacy Projects, ”he said.

KLB a leading textbook publisher in Kenya charged with publishing, printing and distributing high quality educational, scientific, magazine and other reading materials. It also offers individuals and institutions high quality editorial and printing solutions at a competitive price, making the Bureau a valuable partner in the e-learning and book trade in Kenya.

The concept of digital learning is not new in Kenya, although it remains a distant reality for many who do not have access. Risk Africa Innovatis will solve this challenge as a loophole was identified when students were forced to stay at home due to Covid-19 restrictions while others learned from scattered content that was not necessarily part of the curriculum. Our keen interest in technology solutions has resulted in the company establishing working relationships with leading technology companies in Estonia.

We have partnered with Star Cloud and eKool to provide students, teachers, parents and government institutions with a full digital learning experience that combines a learning management system and a school management system. As a local partner, we set up the digitization concept and brought publishers and schools from the public and private sectors on board to implement this initiative in Kenya. “It is a great achievement today to bring Opiq to market after a year and months of struggle. It’s just the beginning, the bigger task is to make sure that every learner in the country uses this platform as part of their normal study and that we won’t sleep. ”Until that is realized, says Henry Mien, CEO Alternative renovation risk.

Ben Roberts, Group Chief Technology and Innovation Officer at Liquid Intelligent Technologies: “Success in achieving digital education will definitely depend on such partnerships. At Liquid Intelligent Technologies, we previously partnered with UNICEF to connect schools with high-speed internet to elementary schools across the country, and with KENIC to provide domains and websites for all affiliated schools. This gives learners and teachers access to approved KLB Provide content on the Opiq platform and conduct the necessary training courses for teachers remotely. “

As part of the alliance, Liquid will work to map schools across the continent and improve the data it collects to include broadband availability. In line with Project Giga’s global initiative (https://bit.ly/3C5hQZ3), Liquid has successfully connected 4000 schools across Africa to the internet. The company is committed to continuing to equip schools with digital technology and has also mapped 150,000 schools across the continent.

In Kenya, Liquid has connected eight schools over six to the Internet VSAT Connections, a fiber optic connection and a wireless (P2P) In a relationship with UNICEF. It is now working on the next phase of the Giga initiative called “Accelerate”. The aim is to connect more schools to explore different technologies, business models and regulatory regimes, and to provide broadband connectivity and unlimited internet to schools and communities.

In addition, the common goal is to provide broadband connections with at least 20 Mbit / s for the most difficult-to-reach schools through innovative tests of new technologies and prototyping of business models, thus refining the digital infrastructure nationwide and distributing it to communities.

While the adoption of digital technologies is critical to business survival in the current economic climate, the need to digitize education is same, if not more important. The pandemic resulted in massive disruption to the education system in Kenya, the main reason – the lack of basic infrastructure to promote distance learning. This partnership should be the stepping stone to a bigger and much needed transformation in the education sector. It is time to work unanimously to secure the future of our country’s youth and pave the way locally for a truly inclusive and high-quality digital education system.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Liquid Intelligent Technologies.

For more information contact:
Angela Chandy
Email: [email protected]

About the Kenya Literature Office:
Kenya Literature Bureau is a leading publishing and printing company in Kenya, established by the Kenya Literature Bureau Act Cap 209 of 1980 of the laws of Kenya as a commercial state company under the Ministry of Education. We publish high quality curricula and general books for learners below ECDE, Primary, secondary and tertiary education. We also offer high quality printing solutions to private individuals and institutions.

As part of our commitment to quality education, KLB has a competency-based curriculum (CBC) Textbooks for early childhood education and textbooks for county polytechnics and vocational training centers. Nyandarua County is in the top eight [8] decentralized units whose books are marked in their name for greater appeal and ownership.

About liquid intelligent technologies:
Liquid Intelligent Technologies is a pan-African technology group with operations in more than 20 countries, mainly in sub-Saharan Africa. Liquid has firmly established itself as a leading provider of pan-African digital infrastructure with an extensive network of over 100,000 km. Liquid Intelligent Technologies is redefining network, cloud and cyber security offerings through strategic partnerships with leading global players, innovative business applications, intelligent cloud services and first-class security on the African continent. Liquid Intelligent Technologies is now a comprehensive, one-stop technology group providing bespoke digital solutions for public and private sector companies across the continent in multiple business areas including Liquid Networks, Liquid Cloud and Cyber ​​Security and Africa Data Centers. https://www.liquid.tech/

About Star Cloud and Opiq:
Star cloud GMBH was founded in 2014 to develop software for creating, distributing and using digital learning resources. The company works with leading educational publishers and public institutions to deliver a comprehensive, fully digital curriculum service for schools, teachers and students. Today, the Opiq platform developed by Star Cloud (www.opiq.ee, www.opiq.co.ke) is the most popular environment for digital learning content in Estonia. The aim of Star Cloud is to provide the best possible support for the creation and use of high-quality digital learning materials and thus to provide intelligent, data-based insights into the provision of the curriculum. Star Cloud works with publishers from different countries (currently in Estonia, Finland, Kenya, Uganda and Kazakhstan).

Opiq is a set of technologies aimed to challenge and develop the existing learning content industry and use of learning materials in education systems. Opiq solutions enable the digitization of existing and the creation of new core teaching content (mainly textbooks, workbooks and teacher manuals) and provide schools (teachers, students, parents), education policymakers and the content industry with access to opportunities arising from digital technologies.

Opiq aims to provide better access to quality education, to make it more personalized and to create conditions for a data-based approach to learning and educational strategies.

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