15 million children in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region do not attend school.
This wasn’t always the case—approximately two decades ago, the region had almost reached universal education and literacy, but armed conflicts over the last 15 years have disrupted this accomplishment across multiple countries, including Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Palestine, Libya, and Sudan.
Refugee flows in MENA have strained national education systems by adversely affecting education quality and existing infrastructure. The COVID-19 pandemic compounded this, with the region experiencing amongst the highest school closures recorded globally. The outcome is concerning: foundational skills are not being adequately learned.
The Power of Technology
To tackle these challenges, innovative solutions like education technology and digital game-based learning have emerged. These tools alleviate the need for physical learning environments while providing opportunities for iterative and differentiated learning, essential in disrupted education settings.
The global evidence is clear: a recent meta-analysis of 77 randomized experiments evaluating the effects of school-based interventions on learning in primary schools across developing countries found that those involving computers or instructional technology had the largest mean effect sizes.
Putting Ed-Tech to the Test
At INTEGRATED, we’ve seen firsthand how ed-tech is transforming learning in the MENA region, especially for early learners in refugee and public-school settings. Through our research—such as randomized control trials and experimental studies—we found that ed-tech can generate improved literacy results significantly beyond “business as usual.”
Digital game-based learning, when used regularly, has the potential to boost basic literacy skills and provide access to digital libraries—allowing early learners to read up to 150 books per school year. This is a huge jump from the regional average of one book per year. These results are particularly clear in low-income and under-resourced settings, where access to leveled and engaging reading materials has sparked exponential growth in reading skills.
Untapped Potential
Where ed-tech solutions have been proven to generate statistically significant learning outcomes in Arabic, their scalability has significant potential. Modern Standard Arabic, the fifth most spoken language in the world, is standardized and taught similarly across 21 Arabic speaking-countries. Additionally, the high rates of smart phone penetration and extensive GSM mobile network coverage in the MENA region offer significant potential for widespread access to digital technologies. In MENA, parents place a high value on education. When families can access interactive, appropriately leveled learning content with regular use, it has been proven to augment literacy.
So, why aren’t these solutions more widespread?
The Challenges at Hand
Despite high smart phone penetration, data credit is expensive, and accessing educational resources is not always the top priority for each family. While each family may have a smartphone, it is often shared among multiple people, causing children to have intermittent use at most. Additionally, awareness of proven ed-tech solutions is exceptionally low, with endorsement from trusted educational bodies necessary for wider acceptance.
Second, while Ministries of Education in MENA have experimented with education technology —and even endorsed successful programs —there are limited means to scale these solutions. A lack of hardware and consistent internet bandwidth in classrooms limit the degree to which ed-tech can be integrated into curriculums, while teachers lack the necessary training to manage onboarding, navigation, and integration. Moreover, ed-tech’s student-centered, self-paced model is a departure from teacher-centered education delivery—a significant cultural shift within MENA educational systems.
However, with future shocks such as the COVID-19 pandemic or new conflicts looming in the region, many ministries have instituted blended learning strategies, relying on ed-tech to deliver a part of the curriculum. Some have even partnered with private sector ed-tech companies to support this approach. Ministries also recognize the potential of ed-tech to be more inclusive of students with disabilities and track student performance within dashboards that can be aggregated nationally.
While the aspiration to integrate ed-tech exists among both donors and Ministries of Education, there is still a need to tackle the key obstacles that prevent its scaling: hardware and internet connectivity in the classroom, continuity of learning from home, and upskilling of teachers to effectively integrate ed-tech into the curriculum. This requires ed-tech developers and ministries to work hand-in-hand- to develop curriculum-aligned and leveled content, while testing this content for efficacy in generating significant learning outcomes.
Despite obstacles, the MENA region holds significant untapped potential to solve its educational challenges through technology. With key strategic investments and partnerships across sectors, there is a clear path forward for the widespread adoption of ed-tech in classrooms throughout the region, transforming learning for millions of children.
Read more about Integrated’s critical findings on ed-tech:
- Revolutionizing Arabic Literacy with Antura and the Letters – Integrated
- Testing Learning Outcomes with Feed the Monster, an Arabic Literacy Game – Integrated
- Exploring Digital Game-Based Learning to Enhance Education in MENA – Integrated