Children learning.[Photo/international.org]Have you ever wondered how to get your children interested in learning instead of spending time on your mobile phone? Well, Kukua, a start-up company on a mission to eradicate child illiteracy in sub-Saharan Africa, has come up with a mobile app, Sema Run, which aims at making children improve their literacy skills as they play an interactive mobile game.
They have partnered with Airtel Africa to distribute the application.
The app is efficient, engaging culturally relevant, and is designed to assist children effectively learn the letter sounds. World literacy experts, educational specialists as well as cognitive psychologists designed the literacy pedagogy, which is employed by the app.
Sema, the main character, takes children on a magical adventure and also empowers them to learn how to read.
This she does as she gains technological powers that enable her to navigate through every challenge she faces.
This interactive app covers all letters and sounds to enable children to learn how to read, offering them a fun way to practice the letter sounds that they have learned in school. In addition, it provides immediate feedback and end of level assessments for the children.
Once downloaded, the app works offline hence users can utilize it without requiring internet connectivity, making it pocket-friendly.
“We combine education and gaming to make our app the perfect activity that keeps children busy doing something meaningful,” says Kukua’s co-founder and CEO, Lucrezia Bisignani.
According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) global monitoring report, basic writing and reading skills, will uplift 171 million people out of poverty, effectively removing 12 percent of the world’s population out of poverty. Today, 250 million children, 200 million of whom attend school are still illiterate.
In sub-Saharan Africa, where two-thirds of illiterate children are located, 67 percent of students drop out before finishing primary school, and another 20 percent graduate illiterate.