ccording to Nisha Ligon, co-founder of Ubongo, over 100 million kids in Africa may never learn how to read. The average pre-primary class in Tanzania has one teacher teaching 177 students. Despite attending school, the students in classes like these often won’t receive the appropriate attention from the overwhelmed teacher, nor the chance to use their own textbook. Their parents likely didn’t receive an education, so they can’t teach their children how to read and write either. A vicious cycle of illiteracy ensues.

Over 100 million kids in Africa may never learn how to read. Tweet This Quote

Ubongo wants to change this reality by entertaining kids to love learning via the technologies they already have: radio, television and mobile phones. Their educational cartoon programs ‘Ubongo Kids’ and ‘Akili and Me’ are full of singable songs and engaging characters, and every show is adaptable to many languages. With over 5 million families tuning in to their programming every week from Tanzania to Ghana, Ubongo is the largest classroom in Africa.


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Brittany Lane

Author Brittany Lane

Brittany is Director of Media at Unreasonable Group. She believes lasting change happens at the intersection of entrepreneurship and empathy and that good storytelling can move mountains.

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