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| Tanzanian students use the Kitkit School app via tablet PCs. / Courtesy of KOICA |
By Kang Seung-woo
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic that has hit the education sector hard, Korea's overseas aid agency has stepped up efforts to minimize the fallout on developing countries, by building infrastructure and offering various programs for distance learning.
According to the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), the organization, teaming up with ed-tech company Enuma, has made its game-based learning app Kitkit School free for download until the end of 2021 as the coronavirus crisis has made it even more challenging for children in need to access quality education.
Through its Creative Technology Solution program, KOICA helped Enuma develop and launch the app to support organizations and schools that are working to improve educational equality and access for learners in low-resource, hard-to-reach and developing contexts. In addition, the app won the Global Learning XPRIZE in 2019, awarded by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who donated to the prize.
Mobile apps are not all the agency offers. In Zanzibar, a semi-autonomous region of Tanzania, KOICA has aired learning programs since April as the country has shut down schools and universities due to the outbreak of the coronavirus.
Due to its low internet penetration rate, the Tanzanian education authorities decided in April to air educational programs through radio and television and the Zanzibar government announced that it will use the Kwarara Media Education Center (KMEC) as an "outpost" of distance learning. The center was built in 2017 through a collaboration between Seoul Broadcasting Service (SBS), Good Neighbors International and KOICA.
KOICA started broadcasting English learning programs on ZBC and ZCTV in February after producing them with SBS, Daekyo and Good Neighbors at the KMEC and it is now producing content for school curriculums beyond English in the wake of the virus pandemic. The programs are mainly created by locals.
In 2018, Korea and Nigeria constructed Nigeria-Korea Model School in the capital city of Abuja as part of efforts to improve Nigerian children's access to quality basic education. It is equipped with a facility that can produce learning programs ― one of the African nation's best educational facilities.
In response to school closures, the education office in Abuja is using the model school's studio and multimedia facility to produce learning programs that are provided to students for free.
Meanwhile, across the globe in Guatemala, KOICA's office there and the Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala are jointly running free online education courses to help students continue their studies amid the pandemic. According to KOICA, the two are offering various classes to the public as well.
