Ethiopian Ministry of Education, 1888EC to Roll Out Edtech Platform Lemar

The Ethiopian Ministry of Education has announced that it has signed a memorandum of understanding with 1888EC, a venture studio, to develop an edtech platform called Lemar that will provide a multi-faceted service to help students achieve better results in their exams.

The signing ceremony was held on April 20, 2023, and was attended by Dr. Fanta Mandefro, State Minister of Education, and Solomon Kassa, founder of 1888EC.

According to Solomon, students will also be able to get tutoring lessons through the platform. Additionally, Lemar will help students prepare for university entrance exams.

The Lemar Web app is set to launch in four months, offering high school students access to a variety of educational materials, including infographics, videos, and game-based content.

“Leamr will use data provided by the Ministry of Education, which is taken from the results of recent national exams. The data will be analyzed to identify areas where students scored less, and supplementary topic-focused educational materials will be developed to address these gaps,” Teshager Amare, the head of operations at 1888EC told Shega.

The educational content produced by the Lemar Web app will be in line with the national curriculum and will also be distributed on social media platforms such as Telegram and Tik Tok with the aim of making educational resources more accessible to students, particularly those who may not have access to traditional teaching methods.

During the signing ceremony, the state minister emphasized the importance of technology-supported education, stating that teaching and learning cannot be competitive at the international level without it.

Founded in 2020 by Solomon, a TV Personality, and tech consultant, 1888EC  is an innovative startup studio that aspires to create disruptive innovators and change-makers in Ethiopia. Unlike an accelerator, a venture studio doesn’t fund existing startups and they create startups by incubating their own ideas or ideas from their partners.

Lemar is the latest product to come out of 1888EC, following the likes of Triopia, a travel and leisure platform aimed at creating digital solutions and job opportunities within Ethiopia’s tourism sector.

Hybrid learning, also known as blended learning, which is an educational approach that combines traditional face-to-face classroom instruction with online learning activities, has been on Ethiopia’s education sector radar since the COVID pandemic.

Related- Ethiopia’s Push for EdTech, Hybrid Learning in a Post-pandemic World 

The method provides students with a more flexible and personalized learning experience, as it allows them to engage with course materials and collaborate with peers and instructors both in-person and online.

Lemar also follows another national edtech initiative in which Ethio Telecom entered into a partnership agreement with GETFACT Ethiopia (GETFACTet), a US-based organization, to implement the Brighter Generation program.

This joint initiative seeks to enhance the digital skills of high school students with the support of professional Ethiopians living abroad. The two organizations are collaborating to offer a variety of training courses in digital centers established by Ethio Telecom in high schools throughout the country.

Teshager further explained in the future, 1888EC in collaboration with other partners, aims to distribute devices to schools in rural areas to minimize the digital divide.