Kiwix4schools project/impact

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Ghana

This project has so far been deployed in 17 schools across Ghana. Prior to the planned 2019 pilots, we tested out the project in 3 deprived areas in Ghana. As part of the project, we trained about 1,265 students and learned about the possibility of providing alternative educational resources via Kiwix. In 2019, we organized pilot events in select schools in Kumasi in the Ashanti region. The needs assessment conducted during the pilot showed that over 95% of the students and over 70% of teachers had neither heard nor used Wikipedia and the other resources installed on the KIWIX reader. Almost 98% of both teachers and students had not used or heard of Kiwix prior to visits from the respective teams. This discovery led to the further deployment of Kiwix in 11 more schools in 2021.

2019 Pilot

This pilot project was conducted in 3 schools in the Ashanti region. The need assessment from 3 schools revealed the following:

Over 95% of the students and over 70% of teachers had neither heard of nor used Wikipedia and the other educational resources installed on the KIWIX reader.
Almost 98% of both teachers and students had not used or heard of Kiwix prior to visits from our team.

2021 & 2022 Kiwix4schools Projects

Since the inception of this program, we have implemented the project in 7 regions in Ghana, and that includes the Volta, Eastern, Ashanti, Northern, Savannah, North East, and Upper West regions. We have trained a total of 777 students across 22 schools, of whom 49.8% were female. Volunteers were able to install Kiwix on 395 devices at the schools they visited. When volunteers asked students about their access to the internet, 75.5 percent of the students reported having ever used the internet before, and 52% also reported having heard of Wikipedia before; however, for Kiwix, barely 2% had ever heard about it. Another interesting finding that emerged from the project was the unmatched student-to-computer ratio. For all the schools visited, the combined student-to-computer ratio stood at 145:105:395, which was alarming.

Read full detailed report here -

Tanzania Pilot 2023

The pilot project was conducted at Kisutu Girls High School in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Internet connectivity has been a challenge to most of the communities and as a result, we realized that teachers and students need offline software to access their educational resources. 99% of students knew nothing about Kiwix but volunteers realized that 95% of teachers never heard about it and needed to access Wikipedia content through it. We therefore came to introduce Kiwix software as a way to help this community get school materials offline and at a relatively low cost. Volunteers installed Kiwix in 20 computers found in the ICT lab and conducted training on how to use Kiwix to access content offline. The training was successful and our plan is to implement this in many more schools in Tanzania.

Pilot

40 students were trained 99% of students never heard about Kiwix 95% of teachers heard about Kiwix 80% of teachers and students were aware of Wikipedia

Challenges

Lack of reliable ICT Infrastructure
Lack of educational content in Kiwix that is relevant to their curricula
Absence of copyrights making it impossible to convert the materials into being readable by Kiwix
Insufficient students’ prior knowledge of the use of computers

Improvement Required

Adding more educational content
Copyrighting issue should be checked

Feedback from School

Teachers and Students realized that they needed Kiwix to access content offline and to have more trainings.

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Nigeria Pilot 2023

This project is under the Kiwix4schools Mentorship Program organised by Open Foundation West Africa. The pilot project was implemented at Federal Government Boys College Garki, Wuye Campus in Abuja Nigeria on the 8th of November 2023. Before the launch of the project students and teachers had no idea of Kiwix is neither have they heard of it. Therefore the Implementation team was charged with introducing Kiwix to the community. The team installed the Kiwix software in the Laptops and on the day of training.

Pilot

49 Students were trained on;

Who a digital citizen is
Elements of a digital citizen.
Internet.
Uses of Internet.
Understanding Kiwix and many more.

The training was successful and we hope to get more schools in Nigeria on board.

Challenges

Due to copyright law and policies in Nigeria it was impossible to collect and convert some educational contents to Kiwix content.
Limited computers in the ICT Unit.
Limited space for storage, ZIM files can be quite large and may require significant storage space on the device or external storage media.
Lack of educational content in Kiwix that is relevant to Nigeria curriculum.

Improvement Required

Creating more relevant curriculum based content on Kiwix.
Creating awareness and getting more schools involved.

Impact

49 Students were trained during the Lunch, some educational content were downloaded in the school system and this will serve as a control measure and hinder the interferences from internet, This gave them some excitements and made them eager to learn more. For students, individuals and organizations in Nigeria with unreliable or expensive internet access, Kiwix provides a practical solution for accessing vital information without the need for a constant internet connection. Kiwix has made a significant impact in expanding access to information, education, and resources for students and communities around the world. Its ability to provide offline access to web content has been particularly valuable in areas with limited or unreliable internet connectivity.

Training Materials and News

https://nannews.ng/2023/11/09/internet-access-foundation-inaugurates-kiwix4school-app-in-fct-school/

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Dr Congo 2023

Before the visit, we had to identify potential schools, select the one that has the lab equipped with a computer and overhead projector, and discuss with the head of the selected school about the implementation of the project (selection of students, date, time, type of operating system), download kiwix and zims.

Pilot

We presented the project, kiwix, its importance, how to install and use it, how to get zim and how to create your own zim. We trained 15 students and 10 teachers.

Challenges

Discussions with the head of the schools were a bit long, as they thought we were going to ask them for money, downloading zim wasn't easy either, as it weighs a lot and require very good internet quality.
Some computers were running Windows 7, and we had trouble installing kiwix on these computers.

Feedback From The School

The participants appreciated the training. They wanted it to last several days and suggested that we organize other workshops so that they can get to grips with the software.

Training Materials and News

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Kiwix4SchoolsDRC

South Sudan 2023

The Eloi Secondary School in South Sudan served as the site of the pilot project. Since most communities struggle with internet connectivity, we came to the conclusion that in order for teachers and students to access their educational resources, they require offline software. Nearly every student had no prior knowledge of Kiwix. The volunteers also discovered that teachers needed to use it to obtain Wikipedia articles because they had never heard of it. As a result, Kiwix software was implemented to assist this group in obtaining educational resources at a reasonable cost and offline. Eight Computers in the ICT lab had Kiwix installed by volunteers, who also gave instructions on how to utilize it to access content offline. The training was successful, and our plan is to implement it in many more schools in South Sudan.

Pilot

25 Students were trained on;

Who a digital citizen is
Elements of a digital citizen.
Internet.
Uses of Internet.
We highlighted the project Kiwix, including its significance, installation and usage instructions, how to obtain Zim, and how to make your own Zim.

Challenges

It was not possible to gather and transform some instructional materials into Kiwix content because of South Sudan's copyright laws and practices.
The ICT Unit's computer number is limited.
Limited storage space: Because ZIM files can be very big, a lot of room may be needed on the device or on external storage media.
Lack of educational content in Kiwix that is relevant to South Sudan curriculum.

Improvement Required

Adding more educational content
Copyrighting issue should be checked

Feedback From The School

The workshop was well-received by the attendees. They requested that it run for several days and recommended that we do more training so they could fully understand the software.

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Burundi 2023

Burundi's Ecole Technique Secondaire (ETS) de Rutana was the location of the pilot project. We concluded that teachers and students need offline applications to access their educational resources because most areas have trouble with internet connectivity. Almost all of the students were unfamiliar with Kiwix before. Because they had never heard of it, the volunteers also found that teachers needed to use it to access Wikipedia articles. Consequently, Kiwix software was developed to let this group access offline instructional materials. Volunteers in the ICT lab installed Kiwix on twenty-two computers and provided guidance on how to use it for offline content access. The training was successful, and our plan is to implement it in many more schools in Burundi.

Pilot

55 Students were trained on;

A digital citizen is who?
Components of a digital citizen.
The internet.
Internet applications.
We discussed the project Kiwix, its importance, how to install and use it, where to find Zim, and how to create your own Zim.

Challenges

Because of Burundi's copyright rules and procedures, it was not possible to compile and convert some educational resources into Kiwix content.

The number of computers in the ICT Unit is limited.

Limited storage capacity: You may require a lot of space on the device because ZIM files can get quite large.
There's not enough curriculum-relevant educational content in Kiwix.

Improvement Required

Increasing the amount of instructional content.
Checking the copyright issue is necessary.

Feedback From The School

The instruction was well-received by the students. They requested that it go on for a few days and recommended that we have further sessions so they could become familiar with the program.

Photo Gallery