Ogelle e-Learning will revolutionise education in Africa – Oparaugo

Ogelle, Africa’s first user-generated video content platform, is set to revolutionise education in Africa with Ogelle e-Learning.

Ogelle e-Learning, which will be launched in the last quarter of 2021, comes against the backdrop of the urgent need to expand access to primary education and open the door to quality, relevant secondary education for Africans.

Tagged ‘Education Without Walls for All Africa’, it aims to make lifelong learning for Africans a reality as well as make it available and successive, given that people learn at different paces, in order to give an opportunity to those who are potentially left behind.

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Speaking on the rationale behind Ogelle e-Learning, Osita Oparaugo, founder of Ogelle, said whereas there is a compulsory basic education cycle for the 5-15 years’ age groups in middle and higher-income countries, many of Africa’s youth are denied quality and accessible post-primary education owing to factors such as cost.

Moreover, the current education system in Africa uses outdated methods and is not preparing children for the future, he said.

“The future success of the African continent lies to a large degree in its ability to hone the skills and talents of its ever-growing youth population and now is the time to rethink secondary education systems, to ensure youth have the skills and knowledge they need,” Oparaugo said.

“For Africa beyond aid, there must be a shift towards science and technology, though the greatest challenges will then be the issues of cost, quality and access, teachers’ welfare, and, in some countries, security,” he said.

The Ogelle founder said creating a knowledge-based economy through STEM education is a lifeline for Africa, ensuring the growth of a STEM-capable citizenry.

“With these issues in mind, especially that of cost, a burden which most families must weigh against other priorities, quality and accessible post-primary education still remains an illusion to many of Africa’s youth, hence we developed Ogelle e-Learning: Education Without Walls for All Africa with special focus on English and STEAM as a solution to fill the gap,” Oparaugo said.

According to him, the fact that many young Africans are completing primary schooling, and many more will do so in the coming years, means that the number of youngsters who knock at the door of secondary education is vastly increasing, thus creating strong structural pressures on all segments of post-primary schooling.

For instance, an estimated 10 million graduates enter the African workforce each year and by 2040, the continent’s labour force is expected to surpass that of India and China.

“As a result, quality education is a central element in building an ‘Africa beyond aid’ and lies at the backbone of its development and enduring prosperity. Quality education also has a multiplier effect on achieving the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals,” he said.

Giving further insight, Oparaugo said Ogelle e-Learning: Education Without Walls for All Africa will offer highly prepared and effective learning programmes for Junior Secondary School 1 to 3 and Senior Secondary School 1 to 3, as well as revision programmes for prospective candidates of competitive examinations like JSS3 and SSS3 certificate exams, the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Exam (UTME), among others. It would also offer a monthly live interactive session where students will have the opportunity to ask questions and get answers.

“We recognise that a percentage of African youth seeks foreign education, and we have made provision for such aspirants by also partnering with a professor of English based in New York, to teach spoken English and present a full syllabus for those taking SAT or the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL),” Oparaugo said.

“We focused on the post-primary education school system because, for most young Africans, secondary education is the last schooling they will receive before entering the workforce. High quality, relevant secondary education which is accessible to all can prepare youths to enter the workforce, improve productivity, and spur economic transformation, unlocking a virtuous cycle of both human and economic development,” he said.

He said the digital age has reshaped the way teenagers learn, especially in Africa, which is why Ogelle brought education and entertainment on the same platform so that African youths can “LEARN + PLAY + DEVELOP”.

Launched in Lagos, Nigeria in April 2019, Ogelle, a user-generated content and subscription video-on-demand platform offering unlimited entertainment that is 100 percent African, targets 100 million general users and 5 million premium users by 2025. It is working to become the highest aggregator of African resource and entertainment platform in the next few years.