The education sector is one of the most important sectors in the world. It is the foundation that helps mould the different professions in the world. Be it formal or informal education is key to the growth of society. Most successful people in the world passed through either formal or informal education, without which success would have been difficult to attain.
The education sector in emerging countries is dwindling instead of growing. A stat by UNESCO states that sub-Saharan Africa records the highest rates of education exclusion. The stat revealed that over one-fifth of children aged 6-11 and one-third of youth aged 12 and 14 are out of school. The UIS (UNESCO Institute of Statistics) data, also revealed that up to 60% of youth between the ages of 15 and 17 in SSA are not in school.
Education exclusion in Africa can be blamed on inadequate schooling facilities and unequal opportunities for education across Africa. Most schools in Sub-Saharan Africa find it difficult to push out quality education because they cannot afford qualified teachers and, in some cases, there is a limited number of people suitable for the job.
The scarcity of qualified teachers paved the way for overcrowded classrooms. There is a chronic teacher shortage syndrome in Africa as a whole and Sub-Saharan Africa is more in the line of fire of this deficit. A report by the UIS states that Africa ranks as the continent with the world’s largest teacher shortage. Another report by the UIS estimates that there is a ratio of more than 40 pupils to 1 trained teacher across 15 African countries.
To fill up this gap and achieve Universal Basic Primary and Secondary education by 2030, UNESCO estimates that, a total number of 19.6 million primary and secondary school teachers should be hired in Africa. However, Sub Saharan Africa accounts for 17 million of the total number required.
Some countries are making conscious efforts to scale the quality of their education sector by providing quality teachers and all basic amenities needed to make learning interesting. In Nigeria, which is part of Sub Saharan Africa, Edupoint an edtech startup is leveraging its pair-to-pair learning model to revolutionize the country’s education system.
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The Edupoint dream was born from Oscar Obiora and Lilian Uka Chinweotuto’s personal experiences. While Lilian had a tough experience in class which drastically affected her scores, Oscar attended a public school with overcrowded classrooms. Oscar revealed that the ratio of 100 students to 1 teacher in his school affected their WAEC results, as only less than 10% of them passed. These experiences fueled their vision to build something that will help enhance learning amongst kids.
The Edupoint Lesson Model
Founded by Oscar Obiora and Lilian Uka Chinweotuto in 2018, Edupoint is an on-demand online edtech platform that connects parents with well-vetted professional tutors within their locality. It operates a pair-to-pair teacher-student model. Oscar and Lilian are both graduates of the University of Benin, Edo state Nigeria.
The platform targets families with little or no time to tutor their kids. It is also available for families who despite having time to tutor their wards, would love them to have a professional touch by well-trained teachers. Edupoint leverages a One-to-one tuition model to offer affordable lessons to these kids. The platform offers individuals lessons tailored specifically to them. These lessons, help them boost their knowledge. The platform works out a model that fits the schedule of any given family.
Edupoint understands that parents and guardians are concerned about the safety of their Kids and wards. Considering the level of menace in the country, it is not rocket science that parents would love to have teachers who are well accounted for in their homes. The platform takes out time to vet its tutors, it ensures that only teachers who have passed through the screening process are hired. This process also ensures that both the platform and the parents can track the teachers if need be.
Edupoint offers different subjects that cut across school curriculums. It also offers skill packages to students who source for them. Oscar revealed that parents request for these soft skills during vacations. He revealed that Edupoint aims to ‘inform, educate and create opportunities’ for students on their platform.
The platform which aims to evolve with technology, partnered Code Planet to offer coding and robotics to students. This process will help keep them ahead of competitors with the same model as theirs. They plan to leverage the partnership to collaborate with schools across the country and in the process offer them STEM, Coding and Robotics.
How It Works;
Finding A Tutor
Visit the Edupoint website, click on find a tutor, fill in the subject, select your zip code and indicate if it is a group, online or personal training. Then click on find tutor. Once this is done, you will have access to all teachers that offer the selected subjects and their profile.
Hire A Tutor
Visit the Edupoint website, click on hire a tutor, fill in the form and click submit. A teacher nearest to you will be provided in minutes.
Edupoint won the ICTEL Expo 2019. Before that, they were a finalist at the Start-Up World Cup Regional 2019 and MEST Africa Regional 2019. The platform has been able to scale through human capital challenges in its 1 year and five months of operation to scale through. The Edupoint model is notable for helping students improve their grades in a space of twelve lessons. The startup is currently in Nigeria with plans to expand across Africa soon.