Internet Online Hong Kong (IOHK), a global research and development firm, has announced a new agreement with the Ethiopian government to overhaul the existing education system in the country. The new system will adopt IOHK’s blockchain technology called Atala Prism ID to create a national student and teacher ID and attainment recording framework.
The new system is going to be tamper-proof and will enable authorities to create an educational record for 5 million students, 750,000 teachers, and 3,500 schools. Aspects of education like grade verification, remote monitoring of school performance, and nationwide educational quality are expected to improve upon the complete adoption of the system.
Education sector authorities will also be able to pinpoint locations that are under-preforming and the causes for their struggles in order to implement policies that are solution-centric.
The reduction of fraudulent records is also expected to be a significant side effect of the system, especially in institutes of higher learning. This is going to have a cascading effect in the jobs sector as it will prevent fraudulent employment and also allow employers to independently verify records without having to use third-party entities, increasing efficiency and transparency.
Ethiopia’s government is also equipping all teachers and students with tablets and a dedicated internet network that will give students instant access to their academic records, addressing the unequal participation of students in rural regions. These students comprise 80 percent of the country’s student body.
Student IDs will also be paired with data from Learning Management Systems and harnessed by machine learning algorithms to drive personalised teaching, a “dynamic” curriculum, and data-driven policies and funding.
Ethiopia is also examining wider adoption of IOHK’s Atala products, which include the PRISM platform, for everything from blockchain based ‘track-and-trace’ of smallholder agricultural supply chains to digital IDs for transport or healthcare.