Kogi to Partner Edtech Firm to Boost Education

The Kogi government has disclosed a 10-year plan for human capacity development and is exploring potential partnerships with educational technology company Edves and leading Lagos private schools.

This was disclosed by the Special Adviser to the Kogi State Governor on Economy, Finance and Investment, Mr. Abdulkareem Siyaka, during a guided tour of three schools in Lagos recently. 

The schools visited were Vivian Fowler Memorial College for Girls, Divine Offspring Primary School, and Dansol High School, all in Ikeja. Siyaka stated that the state had declared free education from the basic to secondary school level and is looking to sustain it, hence the partnership with Edves.

“With about 75 per cent of our population consisting of young people primarily engaged in basic, secondary, and tertiary education, we recognide that the quality of education they get would influence our state’s future.

“We have over 2,000 public schools in Kogi, and about 45 per cent of them are unity schools. We have over 800,000 youths who require skills to become more useful in the workplace, and we really want to invest in training facilitators, in curriculum development, staff hiring, internet connection, and all of these involve cost.

“This is why we are actively seeking strategic partnerships and resource providers, with a strong focus on sustainability to drive long-term productivity within the framework of our 10-year plan,” he said. 

According to him, by the end of next year, the state plans to have a tertiary vocational institute in each of the three senatorial districts, where candidates will be trained in bricklaying, trading, plumbing, painting, and other entrepreneurial skills. 

The schools visited are active users of the learning management technology by Edves, and the head teachers of each of the schools attested to the user-friendliness and record-keeping abilities of the platform, saying that it has made teaching and learning processes much easier.

Mrs. Naimat Ishola, head of Divine Offspring School, stated that the group of schools has for two years integrated the Edves Suite into its system and both parents and pupils also benefit from the technology.

This position was also maintained by head teacher of Vivian Fowler Memorial College for Girls, Mrs. Krishman Niyatha, who added that parents and guardians could easily monitor the progress of their wards in different subjects as they access the platform.

At Dansol, the Executive Director, Mrs. Omotara Olanitori, said the Edves Suite helps the school to manage day-to-day activities, including attendance and personalised learning, adding that the technology helps them keep records, both health and academic records, ensuring that teachers are not heavily dependent on paper works.

The co-founder and COO, Edves, Mr. Dare Adebayo, said the tour serves as a due diligence effort to confirm Edves’ existence as a company and to allow it to engage with existing customers, gaining firsthand insights into the value its platform provides to its educational institutions.

“At present, we serve more than 1,600 schools across 10 African countries, and this year, we’ve begun onboarding schools in the UK. Our core mission is to empower schools with technology, enabling them to operate more efficiently and enhance their teaching, learning, and administrative processes,” said Adebayo.

When asked about the rationale behind partnering Kogi, Adebayo explained, “One of our key objectives for this year is to collaborate with the public sector. Historically, we have primarily worked with private schools. While we are currently conducting pilot tests with around 20 government schools, we believe that our successful track record with private institutions positions us to replicate this success in public schools.

“We have developed an executive dashboard that will enable government officials, such as the governor, commissioner or minister of education, or even the president, to access real-time information from their desks. This includes data on student attendance in specific local governments on a particular day, as all schools will be marking attendance. It allows monitoring of students’ presence, and their coursework, identifies areas where students may be struggling, tracks the number of teachers in schools, and provides a comprehensive overview of students’ academic performance on a weekly basis,” he added.

Adebayo and the CEO, Dimeji Falana, stated that their team is presenting proposals to states in Nigeria, with Kogi being the first to show interest, adding that the company aims to demonstrate how its technology can help governments effectively manage their education infrastructure, handle data efficiently, and ultimately elevate learning outcomes in their domain.