A ten-member delegation including NetDragon Websoft Inc’s management team led by founder and chairman Liu Dejian, hosted several events in Nigeria and Kenya where they investigated the local education environment and provided exchange opportunities to support the development of a smart education industry and ecosystem in the two countries.
Prior to the company’s Nigerian visit, senior government officials from Nigeria had been to China. During the tour, officials signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with NetDragon, following their introduction and demonstration of educational products and solutions developed by their education subsidiary, Elernity.
Details of the MoU included solutions to provide core elements of digital education combining VR, AR, and AI technologies. As a result, both parties are now taking action to implement the MoU, just four months after its signing; with the announcement of the partnership with the joint introduction of IDEA with the Nigerian Government signifies the major first step.
Liu said: “The challenge of unbalanced education resources facing the world is reflected in the investment in hardware and the allocation of soft resources. The IDEA concept, jointly developed by NetDragon and the Nigerian government, aims to help students across Africa benefit from the wisdom of a Chinese Internet company while providing technology-enhanced education to more children.”
As a key part of IDEA, NetDragon will build a national public service platform of educational resources, a national network platform for the teaching community, a national digital talent training platform and a national future education experience centre, all aimed at helping Nigeria create a high-quality education service system. The efforts will focus on primary, lifelong and future education.
“It will promote an educational balance by integrating the company’s years of experience in education and innovation, superior Internet technologies and an open ecological teaching model with customised educational resources,” added NetDragon CEO Xiong Li.
“NetDragon adheres to the United Nation’s Sustainability and Development Goals, to promote e inclusive, quality education and lifelong learning for all.”
NetDragon also signed a collaborative agreement with the Nigerian government to build smart classrooms, preceded by the opening ceremony of the N-Power Junior Smart Classroom Project. As part of its efforts in providing Nigeria with access to its education platforms and resources as well as one of its key products, Edmodo, the company plans to donate to the smart classroom building project in Abuja.
The N-Power Junior Smart Classroom Project, managed by Nigeria’s National Social Investment Office, is committed to improving local primary and secondary school students’ scientific knowledge and skills in the disciplines of programming, computer graphics and computer-aided design, applications in robotics as well as network and fundamental engineering. The smart classroom will be equipped with Promethean’s interactive displays, 101 PADs and VR headsets, and other components of an integrated intelligent classroom solution.
NetDragon also visited Kenya to sign an MoU with the Kenyan Government to engage in a collaborative effort to improve the country’s educational system.
