Six African innovators transforming education with AI
Meet six African innovators using artificial intelligence to personalise learning, simplify scholarship discovery, and expand educational access across the Read More: https://punchng.com/six-african-innovators-transforming-education-with-ai/
Across Africa, six innovators are utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) to revolutionize education, tackling challenges from personalized tutoring to scholarship discovery and AI literacy. Rather than simply employing AI, these developers aim to address specific pain points in the education journey. Here are six innovators using AI to streamline learning:
Dacod Magagula, a South African entrepreneur, co-founded FoondaMate, an AI-enabled study assistant that integrates with popular messaging platforms like WhatsApp and Messenger. The platform enables students to ask academic questions, request explanations, and access study materials through natural language conversations. FoondaMate has reached millions of students across South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Nigeria, with users asking over 100 million questions.
By leveraging machine learning and natural language processing, FoondaMate provides a convenient way for students to seek academic assistance without learning entirely new systems.
Shabnam Aggarwal, at Rising Academies, has developed Rori, an AI-powered mathematics tutor built into WhatsApp. Unlike a conventional answer engine, Rori focuses on structured tutoring, guided practice, and feedback. An eight-month evaluation involving 1,000 students across 11 schools in Ghana found that those who used Rori alongside regular instruction improved their math performance by 0.36 standard deviations compared to a control group.
This highlights the potential of AI-assisted learning to supplement traditional teaching methods and provide individualized support when teachers have limited time for one-on-one instruction.
Ahmed Ogundimu, a Nigerian product leader and education technology entrepreneur, founded NGScholars to help students navigate educational decisions. Since 2013, the platform has provided information on admissions, scholarships, examinations, and academic opportunities in various countries. Over its decade-long existence, NGScholars has recorded approximately 2.7 million visits, with a significant portion originating from Google searches.
By organizing and presenting information more effectively, AI-assisted services like NGScholars can help students identify suitable educational options and manage the complex process of applying to and securing spots in schools around the world.
Written by urgent.news from Punch's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
