Rwanda: Education goes digital
Story highlights
- Rwanda is producing almost 200 edutainment episodes for children in pre-primary education up to grade 3 to help strengthen foundational learning.
- The episodes are accessible online as well as on radio and TV broadcasts, and offline via flash drives, so that learning can take place anywhere at any time.
- GPE and the World Bank are supporting Rwanda's efforts to use technology to transform teaching and learning and help improve education quality and equity.
It’s a busy day at the multimedia production studio of the Rwanda Basic Education Board (REB)–an institution established by the government of Rwanda to support the quality of education.
A graphic designer is coloring a storyboard that has been created for one of almost 200 educational entertainment–or edutainment–episodes for children in pre-primary education up to grade 3.
A team of animators discusses the storyboarding process for a new episode; a team of video editors reviews recordings featuring sign language interpreter Joy Mirembe, who is being filmed standing in front of a green screen, as she’s signing off on a script for an episode.
Down the hall, two voice-over artists who play characters named Bakame, a talking rabbit, and Manzi, a young boy, are recording in a sound booth. The episodes are a hit among students, teachers and parents alike.
A busy day at the studio
“Learning through videos helps me study in a fun way and I gain a lot of knowledge. My favorite character is Bakame. He likes to jump, wiggle his ears and count numbers. Bakame taught me how to count and he taught me sign language.”
“I watch the videos with my child at home. We mostly watch the English language videos because they have been very helpful, especially in distinguishing how the alphabets sound between Kinyarwanda and English. The videos have improved my child's pronunciation and reading. She is now able to read English sentences and books and watch movies in English and understand them.”
Supporting Rwanda’s digital transformation in education
“Inclusive digital learning materials such as edutainment episodes help us to improve curriculum delivery in the classroom to all children, including those with disabilities. This enables the sector to be prepared to ensure learning continuity during any shocks or disruptions. Using the episodes in lesson delivery and at home triggers learners' interest and increases teachers' motivation.”
Rwanda launched the edutainment learning program in 2019, with support from the World Bank. The aim of the audiovisual lessons is to foster core literacy and numeracy skills, science concepts and social-emotional skills.
This was considered particularly important for Rwanda, where a large proportion of children are not enrolled in pre-primary education.
When the COVID-19 pandemic led to school closures in 2020, disrupting learning for over 3.5 million students, the possibility for learning to take place anywhere at any time gained new importance.
A GPE COVID-19 grant of US$10 million for 2020-2022, implemented by the ministry and managed by the World Bank, accelerated Rwanda’s educational technology development and ensured that students could continue learning remotely. The funding supported efforts already underway to produce and broadcast edutainment episodes.
A GPE Multiplier grant of $30 million along with $100 million in cofinancing from the World Bank for 2022-2026 are further supporting development, dissemination and use of the episodes. To date, 96 lessons have been recorded, and 96 more are being produced.
In line with Rwanda’s goal to make education more inclusive, all episodes are being embedded with sign language. To ensure high quality signing, REB works with teachers who teach in sign language as well as signers that have trained with Rwanda National Union of the Deaf.
“The videos help me learn in a calm and joyful manner. At home, I watch the videos on the weekends with my parents, and at school, I watch them with my teachers.”
Enriching early learning
The digital content is expected to help improve school readiness and development of foundational learning. The episodes are fun to watch and cover a range of topics:
- the alphabet (Kinyarwanda, English)
- counting
- physical activity
- creative arts (drawing, puppetry)
- science (animals, computers)
- social skills (how to greet people, sharing, the national flag, moral and cultural values).
As the episodes are meant to supplement teaching in classrooms, teachers need to know how to incorporate them into lessons. Over 30,000 pre-primary to grade 3 teachers have completed training in digital literacy through e-learning courses to ensure optimum use of new digital resources, such as the edutainment episodes.
“We were trained on how to use digital materials in our lessons. We select a video related to the lesson we are going to teach that day and decide which questions we will ask and how we will work with the children to arrive at answers based on what was in the video.”
Local production of context-relevant and inclusive content
“We produce episodes by using a textbook from our competence-based curriculum, selecting a topic and working with a team of experts who understand that topic to develop scripted lessons. Then all technicians, including the video mixer, voice-over artist, audio mixer and signer, record and produce the episode."
All audio and video content is posted on the Rwanda Basic Education Board YouTube channel and e-learning platform, shared with schools for use by teachers, and sent to private and government radio and TV stations for broadcast.
It takes about one month to produce an episode that ranges between 5 to 12 minutes. Production is coordinated by the REB with the engagement of local artists, animators and script writers, including recent graduates from higher learning institutions.
“This project has created job opportunities for more than 50 students from local universities in Rwanda. Most of my team are students from the University of Rwanda. Some are graduates, some are in their final year. I also have graduates from technical schools and Nyondo School of Music. We select those who can write the story, animate, record or sing.”
The episodes are made engaging with colorful animations featuring humans as well as animals familiar to Rwandans. Backgrounds include scenes of modern and village life.
“We have learned some lessons since we started making the episodes. For example, we began using any background for the animations, but then we realized this was a missed opportunity to not only teach learners the curriculum, but also portray the Rwandan culture.”
The episodes incorporate popular games that children play, which helps students relate to and connect with what they’re watching, and they use original songs, which students enjoy hearing and singing.
“When we create characters for the episodes, we make sure that every person in our community is represented.”
Sign language is incorporated into the episodes to make them accessible to deaf children, and audio makes the episodes accessible to blind children.
Content is reviewed by specialists at REB to ensure that it reflects an inclusive and gender-sensitive approach to address existing stereotypes in schools and communities.
Using information technology to transform teaching and learning
“The edutainment episodes that have been developed are part of an overarching ambition to digitalize teaching and learning materials aligned to Rwanda's curriculum, which different education stakeholders are contributing to, including the World Bank. Increased use of ICT is one of the elements that is being promoted and strengthened across all levels of education.”
“GPE is proud to partner with Rwanda and the World Bank to enrich early learning with the production of edutainment episodes. This is one of many steps the government is taking to improve the quality and relevance of education and support student retention and learning. Together we are transforming education and accelerating progress for children in Rwanda.”
The episodes are one component of Rwanda’s sector plan to use ICT to transform teaching and learning and help improve education quality.
Planned activities apply to all levels of education and include equipping schools with smart classrooms, boosting teaching skills in ICT and developing more digitalized content.
Digitalization is part of the country’s strategy to strengthen the quality and relevance of education, and to better prepare students to meet the requirements of the diverse labor market demands.
Also, the use of digitalized curriculum materials and flexible distance learning packages are intended to be more cost-effective and allow a wider range of learners to participate.
“The part I love about learning through videos is math, jumping and dancing. I watch the videos at home and school. An episode I would like to see is one where Bakame continues to encourage children to come to school. I wish that Bakame could bring children from the streets and bring them to school to learn.”
With more episodes in the works, children, teachers and parents look forward to new topics, storylines, animations and songs. Meanwhile, the ministry of education continues to work on improving connectivity and getting the content to as many viewers as possible.
When considering future episodes, Joan Murungi at REB thinks about the potential to help teach children about Rwanda’s history, particularly the genocide that took place in 1994.
She explains, “When Rwanda has a mourning period for the genocide, many young children do not know or understand what happened, and parents have difficulty explaining.” She and her team are exploring how episodes could teach what happened as well as share messages about prevention.
Thanks to the edutainment episodes in particular, children are captivated by lessons, parents are increasingly engaged in their children’s education, and teachers have a new tool to energize classrooms.
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