Tuesday, October 8

Education

5 tech tools to help people with handwriting difficulties
Education, Health Tech

5 tech tools to help people with handwriting difficulties

Henry*, a 9-year-old student, was diagnosed with dysgraphia when he was seven years old. He has trouble gripping a pencil, which always leads to hand cramps and fatigue. “Henry’s handwriting was unusual and inconsistent. It was sad to see him struggle to write at home because it seemed like his teachers were punishing him by having him write in class,” Henry’s dad recalls. According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), writing necessitates a complex set of motor and information processing skills which includes the ability to organise thoughts coherently and then write them down on paper.  However, dysgraphia impairs these abilities in varying degrees. Continue reading Image: Techpoint.africa
How edtech startup, Stranerd is connecting Nigerian students to tutors
Education, Nigeria, Start-ups

How edtech startup, Stranerd is connecting Nigerian students to tutors

At all levels, education in Nigeria is in dire need of intervention. On the supply side, there are more students or prospective students than there are schools. According to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), about 10.5 million children in Nigeria between the ages of 5-14 are out of school, and one in every five out-of-school children in the world is in Nigeria. According to a study of public and private schools in Lagos State by Elaine Unterhalter, a professor of education and international development at University College London, there are 1,200 primary school-aged children for every public school place available. With governments unable to provide adequate options for education in the country, individuals are picking up the slack. Continue reading Image: techpoint.afric...
Ventures Park launches new campus in Abuja for tech enthusiasts
Africans in Tech, Education

Ventures Park launches new campus in Abuja for tech enthusiasts

In June 2016, Ventures Platform launched as an innovation hub where tech enthusiasts, freelancers, startup founders, and professionals in Nigeria could meet, network, and co-create. The 1,200-square-meter hub in Abuja also served as a residential base for technology entrepreneurs on the continent selected to go through the VP accelerator programme.  Over the past five years, Ventures Platform has changed its investment strategy from the accelerator model to become one of the leading early-stage funds in Africa while it spun off the innovation hub business, now managed by its subsidiary Ventures Park. With the recent surge in fundraising, tech activity, and uptake of remote freelance jobs in Nigeria, Ventures Park has seen its community of active users nearly double from just over 100...
UNESCO awards International Literacy Prizes to Innovative Projects Boosting Literacy in Covid Times
Education, Events, Health Tech

UNESCO awards International Literacy Prizes to Innovative Projects Boosting Literacy in Covid Times

The awards will be presented during a virtual International Conference entitled “Literacy for a human-centred recovery: Narrowing the digital divide PARIS, France, September 4, 2021/APO Group/ -- UNESCO has selected six outstanding literacy programmes from Côte d’Ivoire, Egypt, Guatemala, India, Mexico and South Africa as winners of its International Literacy Prizes, awarded on the occasion of International Literacy Day (8 September). During the COVID crisis, these programmes continued to help students learn to read and write through accessible technologies. "These programmes have literally changed the lives of thousands of children, young people, women and marginalised adults. Literacy empowers individuals and it expands people’s capabilities and freedom of choice....
Somalia launches Child Protection Information Management System to protect vulnerable children amid COVID-19
Africans in Tech, AI, Education, Health Tech

Somalia launches Child Protection Information Management System to protect vulnerable children amid COVID-19

In Somalia, 1.8 million children are at risk of violence, abuse and neglect due to the ongoing conflict MOGADISHU, Somalia, August 31, 2021/APO Group/ -- The Federal Ministry of Women and Human Rights Development, in partnership with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), launched today an online Child Protection Information Management System (CPIMS+) to enhance the protection of the most vulnerable children in Somalia. “Today, we’re taking a crucial step towards keeping the extremely vulnerable children – including children living in the streets, child survivors of sexual violence, children in conflict with the law, abandoned babies, and children without primary caregivers – in our country safe. The CPIMS+ will strengthen our collective ability to identify these children, p...
Join Juliet Anammah at the #FutureOfCommerce on the 24th of September
Africans in Tech, ecommerce, Education, Events

Join Juliet Anammah at the #FutureOfCommerce on the 24th of September

On the 24th of September, Juliet Anammah, Chairwoman, Jumia Nigeria and Group Chief Sustainability Officer will be speaking at the #FutureOfCommerce. Juliet will speak on a panel session tagged “The Future of Commerce in Emerging Markets” alongside Nkebet Mesele, Senior Director – Solutions Management at Visa Sub-Saharan Africa and other distinguished speakers. This panel discussion will explore what commerce will look like in Africa and other emerging markets over the next few years. It will also look at the biggest growth indicators for e-commerce, what the impediments to this growth are, and how innovators can harness the untapped opportunities. Continue reading
6 ways to spice up your YouTube Shorts content
Education, List & Guides, Opinion, Telecommunications, Video

6 ways to spice up your YouTube Shorts content

In August 2021, YouTube announced that it would start paying YouTube Shorts creators $10,000 monthly as a reward for creating exciting and engaging content. But they need to meet some requirements to be eligible for the Shorts Fund.  If Shorts is available in your country, then you’ve passed the first eligibility test. So, what next? Well, your Shorts need to have high engagements. Depending on the number of views, creators can earn between $100 and $10,000. Furthermore, the videos need to be original; you cannot make a video on TikTok and post it on YouTube. Continue reading
Malware Spreading Through Popular WhatsApp Mod Uncovered
Apps, Cybersecurity, Education, Telecommunications

Malware Spreading Through Popular WhatsApp Mod Uncovered

A malicious version of a popular WhatsApp messenger mod (unofficial modification of the app) called FMWhatsapp has been discovered by cybersecurity firm Kaspersky. This mod spreads the Triada mobile Trojan, which downloads other Trojans and can launch ads, issue subscriptions, and intercept a user’s SMSs. Even though WhatsApp is one of the most popular apps for instant mobile messaging, not all users are satisfied with its features. Looking for the most user-friendly version, people can be tempted to install modified versions of WhatsApp, which provide many more options than the official one (such as choosing dynamic templates or the ability to read deleted messages). However, these modified apps do not have the same security and encryption features that the official version of...
Empowering young Africa girls through technology
East Africa, Education

Empowering young Africa girls through technology

The aim is to bridge the 23% digital divide between men and women on the continent ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia, August 19, 2021/APO Group/ --  African girl coders are taking the lead in ensuring gender equity and balance in technology on the continent, a field majorly dominated by their male counterparts. Through Connected African Girls Coding Camp initiative, a joint programme of the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) in collaboration with UN Women and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), young girls are applying their coding skills that include Animation, Gaming, Turtles stitch, artificial intelligence, robotics and internet of things they acquire through the program training.  The initiative has held training camps for African girls from across the conti...
African Development Bank Coding for Employment program marks milestone: 130,000 users across Africa
Education, West Africa

African Development Bank Coding for Employment program marks milestone: 130,000 users across Africa

The program’s online platforms offer in-demand technical courses such as web development, design, data science and digital marketing – for free ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast, August 13, 2021/APO Group/ --  On International Youth Day, the African Development Bank (www.AfDB.org) announces the enrolment of 130,000 users in its Coding for Employment digital skills program. The milestone comes as Coding for Employment works to equip African youth with information and communication technology, entrepreneurship and soft-skills training to compete in a digital economy. The program’s online platforms offer in-demand technical courses such as web development, design, data science and digital marketing – for free. With the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, resulting in lockdowns and school...