The technology firm behind Cardano, IOHK (Input Output Hong Kong), has announced a new partnership with the Ethiopian government to introduce a global, blockchain-based student and teacher ID attainment monitoring system to digitally verify grades and monitor school performance remotely.
The framework will be implemented via the IOHK’s Atala PRISM ID, which will allow authorities to build a tamper-proof record of educational success for 5 million students, 3500 colleges, and 750,000 teachers, allowing them to pinpoint the causes and locations of educational underachievement while effectively targeting educational resources.
This will give all students blockchain-verified digital credentials, reducing fraudulent university and work applications and increasing social mobility by enabling employers to check all applicants’ grades without the use of third-party agencies.
Digital Ethiopia 2025, the country’s Digital Transformation plan, is built around a blockchain-based national identity framework.
The government has just released a national identity standard, and the Atala PRISM blockchain ID will be the first device to issue IDs based on it.
The plan aims to accelerate the country’s transition by digitalizing industries like agriculture, manufacturing, and tourism.
According to IOHK, the new blockchain initiative will begin with the deployment of Atala PRISM, a Cardano-based decentralized ID solution.
“Atala is an enterprise architecture similar to Hyperledger Fabric,” says Charles Hoskinson, founder of Cardano and CEO of IOHK. The point is to provide alternatives to governments in need of a municipal currency or a supply chain management framework. This necessitates a system that acts as libraries and modules, allowing governments to quickly develop a product for end users.”
We couldn't make you wait until Thursday! We're announcing our partnership with Ethiopia's Ministry of Education to create a blockchain-based national ID and attainment recording system. Rolling out to 5M students, this is the world’s largest blockchain deployment #CardanoAfrica
— IOHK Media (@IOHKMedia) April 27, 2021
Ethiopian Education Minister Getahun Mekuria said that the partnership would aid Ethiopia’s transition to digitalization. “This is a core pillar of our National Digital Transformation Strategy, and it will underpin an open, data-driven education system focused on a diverse curriculum,” he says. We assume that blockchain technology has the potential to eliminate digital exclusion and increase access to higher education and employment.”
The Ethiopian ambassador to the United Kingdom, Teferi Melesse Desta, spoke about the government’s current partnership with IOHK. He also pointed out that the partnership was in line with Ethiopia’s Digital Transformation Strategy.
According to John O’Connor, IOHK’s African Operations Director, this deployment could help spark a tinderbox of blockchain innovation across the African continent.
“IOHK’s goal to provide economic identities and jobs, social and financial services for the digitally excluded includes Ethiopia’s blockchain-based education transformation,” said O’Connor.
“The good things in life take time, So happy that our tech is now mature enough to do these kinds of nation-state deployments,” O’Connor tweeted about the partnership.