A technology revolution in Kenya's schools

The tablets offer local digital content to engage the pupils [eLimu]

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When parents in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, found out that two schools in the vicinity had “special” new computers, they started signing their children up to attend.

Such was the level of interest that Amaf Primary and Elim Academy in Kawangware, a low-income settlement in Nairobi, now both have waiting lists, and eager children already attending flock through the school gates each morning, keen to get their hands on the devices.
The popularity of the two schools stemmed from being selected for the eLimu project, which takes interactive tablets into the classroom. The project is a very Kenyan contribution to the growing trend of using technology to address the education divide in African schools. Projects such as Worldreader, which provided Kindles to schools in Africa, have existed for some time now, but eLimu has been running for just a year.

Conceived by two Kenyan women after seeing that there was very little engaging digital content aimed specifically at Kenyan children and based on the Kenyan curriculum, eLimu was originally based in the iHub, a space where people wanting to start technology ventures in Kenya can work and collaborate without laying down the costs for office space.
“We didn’t just want to use technology for technology’s sake. We wanted there to be a purpose and a real benefit,” said Nivi Mukherjee, co-founder of eLimu, which means education in Swahili