How well are remote learning tools reaching students in Kenya?

With schools closed for the entire academic year due to the coronavirus pandemic, solutions have emerged to provide lessons to students via TV, radio, YouTube, and even SMS, with varying success.

This post, written by UC Berkeley graduate student Stephanie Bonds with contributions from CEGA Program Associate Anya Marchenko, describes the results of a phone survey of Kenyan 8th graders as part of a CEGA funded project. This survey was conducted in collaboration with Carolyne Nekesa, Connie Otwani, John Kudoyi, Noah Mambo, and a team of field officers at REMIT-Kenya in Busia Town.

Parent-Teacher-Child Meeting (Pre-COVID) to discuss child schooling preferences at a primary school in Funyula Sub-County, Busia County. (Credit: Stephanie Bonds)

Students in Kenya face unique challenges during COVID-19. Schools closed in mid-March, and in July, government officials cancelled the rest of the school year (through December 2020). This is a disruption on a massive scale — students will need to repeat their current grade when the next academic year begins in January 2021, setting back their formal education by one year.

When schools closed in March, the Kenyan government, as well as several private firms, stepped in to promote Education Technology (EdTech) programs for learning at home:

• Lessons via radio, TV, and YouTube: The Ministry of Education and Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) provide free lessons on radio, television, and YouTube. They also provide free online textbooks and other electronic materials on a website called “Kenya Education Cloud”.
• Lessons via texting: Safaricom, a mobile service provider, and Eneza Education offer SMS (text message) lessons, which are free for the first 2 months.
• Internet from Google: 35 Google Loon balloons have been launched across central and western Kenya to provide 4G internet service in rural areas.

Despite these initiatives, it is unclear whether children living in rural, low-income areas are actually able to learn remotely using these tools. And access to EdTech learning matters, as inequality in access could further widen inequality in educational outcomes.

Our approach

We conducted a phone survey of 2,973 8th grade students and their parents from 198 schools across Busia County. This is a key age group, as 8th grade marks the transition from primary to secondary school. Students already face barriers transitioning to secondary school due to the high fees, difficult application process, appeal of outside work, and possibility of teen pregnancy. The pandemic may increase students’ likelihood of dropping out of school. In our survey, we collected data on secondary school attitudes, household characteristics, and learning at home. In particular, we examined student access to the five EdTech initiatives: radio, television, mobile/ internet platforms such as YouTube, the “Education Cloud”, and SMS messaging.

Finding #1: Students are learning at home, but spending much less time studying at home than they would at school

98 percent of students studied at home in the week before the interview, and spent 2.2 hours studying per day. 20 percent of students attended lessons at a teacher or parent’s house, which typically cost an hourly fee equal to 1/5 of the average daily wage. Only 11 percent of students had classwork assigned by their school, so most of this remote learning was initiated by the student.

Finding #2: Accessible EdTech platforms (radio, television, and SMS) successfully reach students where more expensive options fail

Overall, the EdTech initiatives were successful in reaching students in Busia County:

• 67 percent of students used at least one EdTech platform in the last week
• Radio is by far the most popular platform, with 44 percent of students listening to radio lessons in the previous week. This is followed by television and SMS lessons, with 26 percent and 18 percent utilizing each of these services, respectively.

In contrast, very few students accessed any of the internet platforms requiring a smart phone or computer. 9 percent of students watched lessons on a mobile/ internet platform such as YouTube in the last week, and only 5 percent accessed Education Cloud. This is likely because only one-fourth of households in the sample own or have access to a smartphone, computer, or tablet. This also suggests that the Google Loon initiative to bring 4G service to western Kenya will be unlikely to help student learning in the short run, since most households do not own the necessary devices to access 4G networks (see Figure 1).

Figure 1: Percent of students who used the platform in the last week.

Finding #3: Richer students benefit more from EdTech due to greater technology access

Students from higher income households are significantly more likely to access one or more of the EdTech platforms. This is driven by the fact that students from higher income families are 27 percent more likely to use the television to watch lessons than students from lower income families. Interestingly, both above and below-median income households are equally likely to access radio and SMS lessons. There are no differences in access to any of the platforms by gender of child.

Policy Takeaway: All EdTech platforms are not created equal

While radio, television, and SMS messaging are proving to be an accessible way to engage students, many rural households do not have the technology to access YouTube, Education Cloud, or Google Loon 4G. When students do access EdTech, they’re spending far less time learning with it than they would at school. However, EdTech is providing a crucial stopgap for periods of time in which in-person instruction is not available. Future work will investigate the effectiveness of these platforms on learning outcomes.