Kenyan startup Dals Learning is developing interactive digital content aligned to the Kenyan CBC curriculum in a bid to allow people to learn at their own pace in a gamified environment.
Formed in February 2020, Dals Learning uses competent and experienced teachers to create content, and then works with software engineers to make these text materials interactive, be that via videos, animations or other forms of multimedia.
The content is then submitted to the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) for curation and approval.
“We package the approved materials as Android and desktop apps, and sell to corporates, NGOs and private schools. We also sell the materials to the Government of Kenya through open tenders,” Evans Rotich, the CEO of Dals Learning, told Disrupt Africa.
He said by digitising learning content Dals makes it easy for the learners to learn at their pace, even in areas with scarcity of teachers.
“We also enable the learners to access enhanced learning items that breaks down the difficult concepts to easy palatable forms, and ensure the learners are able to learn using game-based materials that make learning fun and enjoyable,” Rotich said.
It also enables learners to monitor their own progress and access their own performance reports, while teachers can easily gather all relevant videos and audio clips, and can give extension assignments digitally.
A number of ed-tech firms are running similar content digitisation programmes in Kenya, with Rotich estimating there could be about 15 firms in the same field.
“However, the uniqueness of our offering from methodology, comprehensiveness and robustness of the solutions gives us competitive advantage. We are also the digital publisher with the most number of approved interactive digital contents in Kenya,” he said.
“So far, over two million learners are accessing our content online through the Kenya Education Cloud. We have also distributed our content to more than 100 private schools across the country.”
Dals was one of the 12 startups recently selected for the second edition of the Kenyan leg of the Mastercard Foundation Ed-Tech Fellowship Programme, which offers selected companies access to funding and other types of support. Rotich said this would enable the startup to scale up its product offering and create new ed-tech solutions.
Its programmes only run in Kenya for the moment, but Rotich said Dals is examining expansion opportunities.
“Our content at the moment is aligned to the Kenyan CBC curriculum. The content covers all learning areas from PP1 to Grade 8. Nonetheless, we have started exploring the same type of business opportunity in Ethiopia, Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda,” he said.
