Digitalising primary education: Online courses are piloted in nine schools in Estuaire, Ogooué Lolo and Moyen Ogooué

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Koulamoutou, 7 December 2022: A digital education platform has been piloted in nine schools in the provinces of Estuaire, Ogooué Lolo and Moyen Ogooué. During the pilot phase, 500 tablets will be made available to the 1,500 schoolchildren at the pilot sites and laptops and video projectors will be given to the schools and to the provincial education authorities for the supervisory, administrative, and teaching staff.

The handover ceremony for the province of Ogooué Lolo took place today in the public school of Libongui, Koulamoutou, and was attended by the President of the National Assembly, the Minister of National Education and the Acting UNICEF Representative. Mr Faustin Boukoubi, the President of the National Assembly, was also a sponsor of the event.

Mrs Camélia Ntoutoume-Leclercq, the Minister of National Education, explained that the objectives of the project are to digitize education, including to connect schools to the internet, to encourage the use of digital tools by all teachers in Gabon in the learning process and to digitize all primary school courses on the online learning platform.

"I am delighted with the progress made over the last twelve months and the way in which key players in the Gabonese education system have mastered the use of this digital education platform.

This shows me that this program will be a success in Gabon. The support of the partners will allow us to transform the Gabonese education system," said Donatien Tameko, the acting UNICEF representative in Gabon.

The ceremony demonstrated that it is possible to provide digital education opportunities to rural communities with high levels of educational deprivation. During the launch, online sessions aimed at Grade 4 students were shown to officials. 9-year-old Jackie was very excited about the tablets: "I can't wait until we can access the lessons from home," he says.

"Learning Passport is a platform that integrates everything. Children can have access to all the books that they need on the tablet, even books that parents might not be able to afford. It will make the teacher’s job easier and can help them support children in using the platform”, explains Eleonore Obame, an expert trainer at the National Pedagogical Institute.

As well as the provision of computer equipment, a partnership with Airtel will provide an internet connection to the three schools.

In addition to this, 4^th and 5^th grade teachers have received training on how to deliver online courses using the Learning Passport. The content is in line with the Gabonese curriculum, as it was developed by experts from the National Pedagogical Institute and then delivered by local providers.

All the computer equipments for the students have been configured and will allow the educational activities of the schools to take place during the pilot phase. The equipment is equipped with a tracking system. In addition to this, each province has a local organizing committee with digital and pedagogical supervisors who will monitor and supervise the pilot sites.