Article: Innovative education methods in schools in Africa

A lot of international organizations like Books for Africa or Worldreader are working hard to create a culture of literacy in Africa and provide young students, teachers and parents of books and other tools that can help them learn and develop more skills for a better future. Thanks to the digital revolution taking place all over the world this is not only a dream, but reality.

The use of digital devices, such as computers, smartphones and tablets, in schools would allow students to get access to books and education in places that would be otherwise very difficult to reach. Today mobile technology is changing the economic life of African people and the number of mobile users there has considerably grown in the last years, making the idea of having computers and e-readers in class not only an idea, but a real opportunity.


Digital books have several advantages over printed books as they are less expensive and on classified sites you can buy second hand devices. The cost of mobile devices is slowly decreasing, while digital material is more and more affordable and easy to find. A few African publishers are starting to adhere to this new trend and are offering e-versions of a large number of different titles for children and adults, but also PDF files that can be read on very basic devices. This way, teachers and students have the opportunity to browse through a wide selection of books, textbooks and other materials that would probably be not physically available in their community. Also, thanks to modern technology and new devices with features like text-to-speech, kids with disabilities or with parents that cannot read and write have the opportunity to study and learn like every other students in their class.

This digital revolution is not only a positive for kids, but for their families too: the publication and diffusion of newspapers, magazines, leaflets and other information on mobile devices could give communities the opportunity and power to stand up for themselves and work together for a better future.

Article Credits: Sade Adebayo