Nigeria’s first mobile school apps ready for use

In its bid to contribute to deepening the penetration of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in Nigeria’s education system, promote teacher-education as well as improve students’ performance in examinations, a leading ICT solutions company, Coscharis Technologies, has launched Edu-Mobile. It is Nigeria’s first mobile school. It is primarily targeted at primary and secondary school students and teachers.

Embedded in ASUS mini-pads with Brain Friend software, Edu-Mobile is a mobile learning programme that integrates a typical school environment into an App so students and teachers have round-the-clock, real-time access to learning. Brain Friend is proprietary software developed by Cinfores, an ICT education development company.

While speaking at the launch, Managing Director, Coscharis Technologies, Emomine Mukoro, stated that Edu-Mobile comes with a curriculum library, which covers the totality of syllabi used in primary and secondary schools in Nigeria, and tailored to provide teachers with quick learning needs, including the flexibility to modify the classroom environment. He said the device could also provide career guidelines to help students make suitable career choices as well as prepare them towards achieving such goals.

According to Mukoro, “Coscharis Technologies is delighted to introduce the Edu-Mobile, a 21st century teaching and learning solution anchored on innovation, rigorous standards and excellence. Developed in partnership with Cinfores and ASUS, Edu-Mobile is designed as a solution to the low technological expertise among Nigerian teachers and the attendant effects on both students and learning. With Nigeria curriculum-based subjects and textbook applications, in addition to test assessments and answers, Edu-Mobile reduces the financial burden of buying several study texts.

It has a ‘prep platform’ that prepares students for JAMB and WAEC examinations and also a video tutorial content offering step-by-step explanations on all the topics.

“Every year, almost 80 per cent of youth corps members are deployed to teach in public and private schools across the country, many of whom do not have the requisite knowledge in teaching. With Edu-Mobile, government can be rest assured that the right methodologies would be adopted by the corps members in delivering this important service to the nation. The fact that the programme is not internet-dependent makes it the ideal mobile school for teachers and students even in remote areas.”

Mukoro, therefore, called on the Federal Government to take advantage of Edu-Mobile project to equip corps members, as good quality education remains the bedrock of nation building and cannot be compromised. He also noted, “The introduction of this 21st century educational solution will not only tackle the high rate of failure recorded yearly in national examinations, but will also effectively restore people’s hopes in Nigeria’s educational system”.

The educational Apps’ boss further stated that in order to assist those in tertiary institutions, Edu-Mobile has partnered with World e-Library to provide over 10 million e-books and e-journals to help both students and lecturers in their project and thesis researches.

Also, the Managing Director of Cinfores, Asawo Ibifuro stated, “Edu-Mobile is a strategic initiative aimed at promoting education in Nigeria through technology. It is intended to drive standardisation within the Nigerian educational system by ensuring that teachers and students have access to quality educational resources irrespective of their geographic location or social background. All subject contents are based on the national curriculum and can be readily updated as the curriculum changes. This means that a student can conveniently go through primary and secondary schools using just one Edu-Mobile”.