Let’s Talk about Education!

The Future of Education in Africa

Marian Muthui
UNLEASH Lab
3 min readAug 9, 2017

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High-quality education is one that imparts relevant and practical skills among the populace. Skills that foster self-reliance and economic independence; nurture critical thinking and non-cognitive skills (e.g. curiosity, empathy and sociability); improve economic diversification in a society leading to job creation and wealth distribution; and incorporate basic life skills.

Unfortunately, education in Africa is plagued with several issues: gender disparity, poor infrastructure, few teachers, inadequate learning materials, lack of investments, just to name a few. We have all seen images of young school, nestled under trees, listening attentively as their teacher goes through the day’s schoolwork. The harsh reality about this is that, these are not isolated cases but are prevalent across the continent.

Photo: Flickr/Feans

With over 7 years of experience as an informal educator teaching and mentoring young children in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), I have had the opportunity to work with various schools that vary in resource capacity. I have learnt that there is a definite correlation between the learning environment, and literacy and numeracy among children.

The Need for Alternative Educational Programs

With support from The International Development Innovation Network (IDIN), which is led by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) D-Lab, I founded the The Mekatilili Program. The initiative is an informal, private, not-for-profit initiative that conducts interactive workshops focused on Human-Centered Design (HCD) and basic engineering concepts to improve technical expertise, nurture innovation, build creative confidence and to promote social cohesion among the youth in Africa. The program has reached over 200 young people in Kenya (mostly young girls and women), whose average age demographic ranges from 14–25 years.

Through the program, I have witnessed first hand the benefits of tactile learning among children. Tasks that enable them to think critically and to utilize non-cognitive skills has a greater impact in terms of comprehension and retention as opposed to the tradition formal learning techniques.

Globally, the typical linear teacher-student system is slowly being phased out and replaced by a decentralized, matrix framework whereby learning is achieved from multiple and alternative sources. This is because, due to the rigidity of most educational curricula, the teachers can only do so much with limited time and resources.

With the advent of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), virtual classroom collaborations and innovative education tools, these have merged to form an emerging sector known as Educational Technology or simply, EdTech.

Engineering, Innovation & Education

“But Marian, I thought you were an engineer. Are you a teacher now?” asks everyone.

According to the World Bank, expenditure on research and development (R&D) in Kenya is below 1% and the same speaks true for most African countries. In developed nations, R&D expenditure is above 2%, therefore, as a continent we are way below the recommended levels to boost innovation and technical support. Africa is in need of makers, researchers, scientists and educators to increase R&D support.

I aim to be at the forefront, spearheading activities and programs that support R&D in Africa, whether through technological innovation, business strategy or alternative educational programs for the youth.

I’m passionate about education in Africa, because it demands innovative, disruptive and economical reforms. Policy makers, educators and the private sector need to work in tandem to develop long-term educational solutions at the grassroots level. The future of Africa depends on it.

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Marian Muthui
UNLEASH Lab

Engineer | Innovator | Educator. Founder of The Mekatilili Program (www.mekatilili.com)