NIGERIA – ScholarX, an Ed-tech startup based in Nigeria, has been selected by the government of Lagos State to assist with the onboarding of primary and secondary school students to the Digital Skills Initiative Lagos (DSIL) Programme.

In-person learning has been the biggest casualty of the COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria.

While many businesses have gradually reopened as government control measures eased, many schools lack both the resources and the facilities to do so.

Without in-person learning, the academic sessions of many primary, secondary, and tertiary schools have been disrupted. And this is taking a toll on their income.

Over the last few months, schools have stepped up and began making frantic plans to maintain their academic calendars virtually.

Private secondary schools were the first to go this route. Schools have developed e-learning systems to manage learning activities for their students during this period.

Even as the more tech-savvy families are turning to edtech solutions like uLessons, those in public learning institutions have been largely left behind, exposing Nigeria to the risk of having a high population of students who are out of school.

To this end, the Lagos State government has moved in to launch a digital learning initiative to enable students in the public education system to also resume their learning.

The first phase of the project is aimed at equipping young Lagos primary and secondary school students with valuable digital skills necessary in enabling them fully participate in e-learning.

ScholarX will be supporting the project by facilitating the registration of students across all six districts in the state, and the startup will also ensure their engagement on the virtual learning platform.

“ScholarX is very excited to support this brilliant initiative by the Lagos state government as it aligns well with our goal of democratising access 21st century skills for students at all levels,” said Bola Lawal, the startup’s co-founder and chief executive officer.

Lawal further implored parents in the state to ensure that their children are registered on the dedicated website.

Launched in Nigeria in July 2016, the ScholarX app allows users to select parameters and scroll through lists of available scholarships that match their requirements.

The startup has taken part in a host of accelerators in the last couple of years, including the Cape Town-based Injini ed-tech incubator and the Google Launchpad Africa accelerator.

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